Claymore Faction
by tenyearwarranty
Summary: About a Raven by the name of Defect and how he lives his life in termoil after finding out something that challanges his very soul and the one trying to save it. Originally posted on the Armored Core Online Forums
1. Weapon Check

The Claymore Faction  
  
Raven.that's what I am, a Raven. We pledge allegiance to no one and work for everyone, all that matters is the money at the end, but not for me.it was never about the money.it was the thrill.the lick of death on my back during every time I strapped into my Armored Core.I used to embrace it until she came.until she came.  
  
Prelude: Eden lost and found  
  
I go by the name "Defect". I am a Raven of 23 years old, a Raven is a mercenary who works for corporations for money, parts and fame in the Arena. We pilot giant machines called Armored Cores which are fully customizable. We could make them look like humanoids, resemble tanks, or just have them look cool, it depends on every pilots taste in looks and weapons. Which means no two ACs look alike, and no two look a likes battle the same. Me, I prefer reverse jointed legs and mid weight Bipedal, the tanks and quad legged ones just don't suit me and hovers.well.hovers aren't that reliable when firing cannons, you stop for even a second and you're as good as chopped liver. Many Ravens start as MT (muscle tenser) pilots, mechs that are smaller and work for only one corporation, others just jump in without any experience and are often the first to get themselves killed. It's a hard life being a Raven, the kill rate is 8 deaths for every 10 that join, many either go bankrupt and a lot more die in missions. I've been a Raven for 2 years, enough to see my fill of new blood spilled, and I work for an earth raven's nest called "Claymore Faction". We were one of the first ones to discover that the earth's surface had healed. Long in earth's past warring nations fought for land and power and in turn destroyed the surface during the process. Earth's harsh toxic surface was deemed inhabitable and our "paradise" was lost. Many unknown numbers of colonies were set up underground in order for the human race to survive and others began to migrate to Mars after learning about the terra forming of the planet. One local corporation began to take note and began colonizing, from what I hear Zio Corporation is big there now. Its been an unknown amount of years we've been down here but when our "controller" shut down and opened the door to the surface, the whole population was shocked. Earth had healed itself during our lifetime's underground, and now with the gates to "Eden" open, we are entering a new era in human history. Our AC technology was lagging way behind many other colonies that we have found and made contact with, it was probably because we where more worried with surviving underground not destroying each other. Our technology began to rise with leaps and bounds, and our ACs were the first things to be upgraded. One particular Ravens nest by the name of "Global Cortex" was one of our main suppliers and the majority of us Ravens began using their parts. A dark cloud looms though.will we follow the same steps as our forefathers, or will we end up worst then they did?  
  
Chapter 1: Weapon Check  
  
MXG-XCB/75 right arm weapon, ammo amount 75  
  
Said a mechanical voice from Defect's cockpit "Laser rifle check"  
  
MLB-L5/003 left arm weapon  
  
"Laser blade check  
  
MWM-DM24/1 right back weapon, ammo amount 24  
  
"Missiles check"  
  
Energy Bar 100%, Radiator at 98% capability, Radar area scan set at 400 meters, Altitude at 3200, FCS set  
  
"Only 98%? Hmm that piece of crap is usually at 40, lucky me" I slipped my helmet over my black hair, "all green here ready for transport drop" "Roger Defect, remember your mission is to protect the power plant not take it down with you" said a female voice over the communication link "I know I know, you don't need to bring that up again Jean" I replied, recalling an angry red head yelling at the top of her lungs, "not my fault it popped out infront of me while I was overboosting" holding back a crooked smile "well be careful not to get any deductions from your credit when the missions over, you know how much I hate losing money, especially when you're the one responsible" she paused and took a sip from her coffee, "you still owe me for covering your back" "how's about a date?" I chuckled "not in this life" she rolled her green eyes back, "good luck" I turned on my Video link that connected to my ACs head, and saw my targets, 5 reverse jointed MTs and 4 Jets circled around the power plant I was instructed to protect, I turned on my missiles and fired as soon as I got a lock. I got a jet and lucky me it crashed into a MT on the ground. Even with all the trees in the way this was gonna be quick. I boosted toward the closest MT and let my blade slice it in two, one half fell into a pond the other got tangled into a tree, the other 3 MTs took aim at me and fired. The bullets ricocheted off my core harmlessly only doing a total of 40 damage worth of AP "Pathetic" I responded with another missile blast that blew up the core of one and destroyed the headpiece of another. Switching to my rifle without skipping a beat I fired at the 2 jets above me before they could get a lock, both crashed into the power plant causing a tower to fall. "Opps" I said "damn it this always happens" I turnboosted toward my last opponent and shot him, his MT groaned and lurched forward into the dirt. "what a waste of ammo" I said to myself, "and a waste of money" as I looked at the toppled tower, "there had better be reinforcements or else I'm gonna be pissed"  
  
"Xerox reporting in, AC detected commencing attack"  
  
"Huzzah" I spoke directly to the pilot, "lets see what you got" a new pilot I suspect, I hate this part of the job but looks like I get a bonus for destroying an AC, I'll try to let him live "Here I come!!!" he shouted as he let loose an energy blade only achieving some lumber from the tree he just sliced "tisk tisk tisk" I nodded my head "after that overboost toward me you probably don't have enough energy to fire that rile there" I pointed my rifle at it, I was right, I got in close and showed him how its done, I slashed thru his missile pack on his back and caused a chain reaction. "****" he cursed, he then began to kneel down to fire his grenade cannon, "eat this!" and let loose a cannon blast, it was all for naught since he only shot thru air and causing another electric tower to topple, awww crap I thought more deductions "shoulda been a quad since now you're a sitting duck" with that I slashed thru his cannon barrel "Shut up!!" he responded "Look nestling (I always call new Ravens nestlings) your not gonna win against me just quit while your still alive" I shot at his head part rendering him inoperable, alive but inoperable, I couldn't bear to take another Raven's life" "What are you chicken? Come on I can still take yo-" then there was silence as his radar lay in a smoldering heap "Damn radar" I sent a message to Jean to pick me up all the while listening to my radiator making funny noises, and prepared for a scolding from her  
  
"Everything ok Defect?" "Yeah now I can buy that new Icicle part I've always wanted" I was strolling thru the Barracks when Vent came along, he was an athletic tan colored man with a few lost teeth and black hair that could never be tamed  
  
"Only now Defect?" Vent said as he slapped me on the back, "I don't know why you don't just sell that piece of crap you call an AC, its gotta be like what? 5 years obsolete?" he chuckled "Hey that's the only thing my dad left me" I replied dogging a nestling as he rushed past, "besides you know how I feel about changing parts, that piece of crap was the top ranked AC back in my fathers day" "yeah when we had shitty ass parts back then, come on the max AP it has is like what? 6000? These newer cores have way higher AP and Defense stats, your AC cant even hold a maximum weight of 4000, I'm telling ya its crap" "hey only 4 words for you Vent, I like em light" "yeah whatever" he said in a hearty laugh well take care, make sure that thing doesn't cave in on itself, ha ha ha" and with that Vent entered the dinning hall, the smell mystery meat reached my nose "I don't know how people can even stand that" shaking my head I headed to the closest vending machine and bought a burger.  
  
Maybe I should upgrade I thought, then I could get a rank in the arena. I shrugged thru the corridors saying hi to fellow friends and comrades in arms, we've all fought together before as well as fight each other. One day you could save a fellow pilot, the next you could be in a life or death battle against them, it's the curse of the Raven, everyone is just a statistic in the end. I stopped by the registration office and took looked up the new raven, Xerox. Its just something I do when I meet a new Raven, I look them up and see how they started out, I turned on the screen and pressed "Recruits" on the screen, it didn't take long for me to find him only 17 new recruits this month  
  
Real Name: Jeff Ward Age: 19 Hair color: Light Brown Eye color: Green Build: light Height: 5'7"  
  
"hmm I'm 2 inches taller"  
  
Handle: Xerox Main AC Name: Laminate Secondary AC Name: Arise Optional AC Name: None  
  
Origin: Martian colony "Trent City"  
  
"Martian huh? Wonder what he's doing here on Earth"  
  
Arena Rank: none Total length as a Raven: 3 weeks Original Raven's nest: Nerves Concord Bio: A Martian Raven just transferred to earth, his father was a high ranking Arena competitor that was also Transferred to Earth. Became a Raven to follow the footsteps of his father and also wants glory in the arena. After the terrorist attack on Nerves Concord Xerox was seriously injured and was requested to be migrated to Claymore Faction under the supervision of D-2 ranked Arena Participant "Yuri". It seems that they are Brother and sister.  
  
"Sister? I hope she wont have it in for me when I meet her in the arena.that is if I even get to the top 50" I told myself, wallowing in self pity "so it looks like I'm gonna have to upgrade now." I didn't like shopping, I had Jean do past shopping for me, I wonder if the women of the past enjoyed shopping to? 


	2. Upgrade

Chapter 2: Upgrade  
  
"You love shopping don't you, huh Jean?" I said as the both of us were strolling thru an AC part warehouse "Yesh" she said with a cheery tone, "I just love shopping, even if its just giant weapons of mass destruction", she was eyeing out all of the newer parts, never giving a second glance at older models "I bet you do" I replied, " so what kind of AC do you think I should use? I've been wanting to try out a middle weight AC, and with my credit so far I think I could buy a new AC" "And if you had protected the power plant you woulda have more to spend" "Hey that electric tower fell on its own, I had nothing to do with it" I said trying to look innocent "Oh please your lucky you didn't have a grenade launcher on your AC or else Shoji corporation woulda blamed it on you" she turned around. "I'm gonna look for more parts ok? Try to pick out something nice to give yourself a good impression to the audience, your Arena battle is only 3 weeks away" and with that she bounded down the warehouse like a kid in a candy store. "Jean Jean Jean" as I shook my head, I remember when I first met her, she was 20 then, when I took my Raven's test. My job was to protect civilians from a terrorist attack from a group called the "Indies" they migrated to earth after they disbanded on Mars but only reassembled as a shadow of its former glory. I had to fend off 12 MTs and with only the standard AC, I wasn't allowed to use any other ACs so it was hell for me. A Giant energy suck and only equipped with a handgun and small missiles I'm surprised I lasted so long. Jean was in her car driving to work (as a waitress) when she got involved. Her car was under attack and I only did what was natural, I protected it and destroyed the MT that was causing her trouble. After that she fell in love with everything Armored Core related which made her boyfriend really sad. 3 months after becoming a raven I wasn't getting much work, mainly because I didn't have an Advisor to set up missions for me. Then I got a request if she could become my partner, it seems I sparked her love of ACs. She took training school and passed 5 months before anyone else, she seemed to have a knack for it, and we've been close friends since.  
As I was "recalling" I walked into a wall, thus getting me to stop daydreaming. Somehow I ended up in another AC Parts warehouse.a much dustier more disarrayed warehouse. It was full of obsolete parts, many of which I already own or have on my current AC. As I was trying to find my way out something caught my attention. It was a Kawasawa that musta been over 10 years. I recalled a match between a Raven with a Kawasawa. I had won but the win cost me greatly, after only 7 shots of a Kawasawa my AP was already in the red. It had cost the other Raven even more, the Kawasawa the pilot used was unstable and in turn blew up taking the AC along with it. Ever since then I've had this fear of the weapon, my AC originally had a Kawasawa when my father piloted it but I put it away in cold storage fearing the power of it, besides it could never compete with the newer Kawasawa from both the Global and Nerves nests. But before I could find a way out another weapon beckoned me.  
  
"So how do you like it?" Jean was ecstatic, she was practically glowing when she assembled the new machine. The sound of gears and metal scraping almost over powered her voice. We had just gotten back from the warehouse and began assembling the mammoth puzzle in the AC garage. "Huh?" I shouted, "What kind of parts are they?" I was perplexed I haven't seen some of these parts before, and a few came out of really old boxes "Oh, I had a few contacts that had some extra parts" she said as she looked up into the AC's head "how much did you spend?" I asked, the noise had subsided "look isnt it beautiful" she replied and began chewing on a pen, I didn't think she wanted me to know how much all of it cost.and I didn't want to know after seeing an expensive head piece being lifted out of a gigantic box "But I haven't seen these before" I was motioning to the right arm weapon and back units "Let me see the part list Jean" I didn't think she heard me so I took hold of the clipboard she was holding, the pen connected to it was still in her mouth "ZWG-MG/ENE, energy machine gun???" I was dumbfounded she had gotten hold of Martian parts "Look there's more" she said with a big smile on her face, I read the Part List  
  
Head: CHD-02-TIE Core: ZCL-XA/2  
  
"21 optional slots?!?!?!" I was in awe, so this is how far Zio got "Don't get your hopes up, we need to configure this to use earth optional parts so its probably gonna hold 16 slots max" she was still looking at her work of art all the while chewing the pen  
  
Arms: ZAN-616/AUR  
  
Legs: MLM-MM/ORDER  
  
Booster: DCL-32/7 FCS: DOX-ALM Generator: CGP-ROZ Radiator: RMR-ICICLE Inside: none Extension: KEBT-TB-UNS Back R: VWR-L15 Back L: ZWM-GT/00 Arm R: ZWG-MG/ENE Arm L: D-LSB/BITE  
  
I was impressed, not only did Jean get new state of the art parts, she also found rare prototype parts as well, I thought the D-LSB/BITE was only a rumor, the creators of the MOONLIGHT made this prototype but it had a habit of tearing the AC's arm off when ever it was used, it was deemed unstable and only a few units were released. I'm glad I brought her shopping with me. "Hey Chris, (she's the only one who calls me by my real name) did you find anything that you could add?" "Only for my dad's AC" I responded, my old man never named that AC and neither did I "What? stop wasting money on that piece of junk, you have this beauty to reek havoc now" I have a feeling she cant wait to see me try this AC out "Hey it's the last thing I'll ever buy for it ok?" thinking about it I wanted this one to have a name, unlike my dad's, "what can we name it? "flower of doom" she giggled "nahhh how about, the thing that rose up from the swamp" saying it in a creepy voice "hmm we gotta give it a cool name" she finally took her eyes off it "ok, let me think." "come on I want you to test it right now" she was ready for some carnage already "hmmm let me see" my mind was a blank "how about something disturbing like death by monkeys?" "what? hell no, I might as well name it fruit squishier while your at it" "well then come up with a name, want to see destruction" "ok ok." I thought back into my mind and it hit me, "Adrenaline." "Adrenaline.? Why that?" she asked "because that's what keeps me going, its all for the rush" I said and sounded philosophical " ok if you say so, Adrenaline it is, lets take her for a sp-" at that moment her mouth was filled with blue ink, she began blushing "yes lets" as I tried to hold back a laugh  
  
"Chris you were made for that AC" Jean was glad her AC design worked even thought she just bought parts that looked cool and flashy, if they worked then all the better. "You modified the left arm to handle the strain caused by the blade right?" I asked her ready to test it out "uh huh, it should handle the stress by it now" "glad to hear that" and with it I practically incinerated the training MTs, it didn't just slash thru them, it melted all surrounding areas as well causing enough heat damage to put even the ICICLE in output down mode, it came at a cost though it dealt 700 damage worth of AP and caused my heat bar to raise 150 degrees I have to be careful when using this weapon. I particularly liked the energy machine gun, with the energy optionals equipped it fires faster than any other solid shelled machine gun, it might even be faster then the FINGER arm weapon if I can get more energy optionals from Mars. "we have 1 last day before your arena debut, remember you need to go all out, no mercy now!!!" she just bought a new dress for this occasion and wanted to go out with style.  
I colored this AC dark blue with red mixed in, the red ment the blood flowing thru my body during a battle and the Blue represented my calm laid back nature, Jean didn't like it but she gave in and let me use it. I was all set for my Arena debut, I had only participated in 28 missions total and failed only 3 of them, I had only challenged 7 ACs during my missions, including Xerox, this was gonna be a hard fought. 


	3. The Crowd Goes Wild

Chapter 3: The Crowd Goes Wild  
  
"I'm shaking Jean" "That's natural Chris, everyone gets the jitters, look even I have it" she said showing her shaking hand "I don't know why your nervous, I'm the one who people are gonna be looking at, all their eyes, watching all of my mistakes, agghh I cant think!!!" It was funny, me a Raven who has stared death in the eyes more then the number of fingers on both of my hands and Jeans, and yet I was still afraid. I didn't like the idea of thousands of fans watching me. I didn't want to end up like Callus, he had a perfect mission rate and was feared in battle but whenever he tried to raise ranks in the arena he always lost his nerve. He told me that he was paranoid about looking like a fool, too bad for him, his AC always just sat there whenever the battle started, he was too scared to even make move. I had to shake this feeling away from me, I didn't want to look like a fool, I wanted to put up a show, and a good one at that. "Theres Steve" I told Jean as I pointed him out, "have fun with your boyfriend" "what? jealous?" she replied "you know it" I joked, "get ready for a battle you'll never forget" "I hope so" she responded as she sat down with Steve my mechanic, I knew they were perfect for each other, I hope they lead a good life  
  
AC PILOTS DEFECT AND ARROWHEAD PLEASE REPORT TO THE LOADING BAY said an arena attendant thru the intercom system "coming." I said to myself, still shaking  
My opponent was a quad by the name of Arrowhead. I had to be careful for the Grenade Launchers on his back, my Core didn't have much defense but then again neither did my old one, I had gotten used my new AC. It responded quicker and took more damage, I also had another back weapon, something I haven't had the liberty to put on my old AC. I was still getting used to aiming manually with the large rockets on my back, it was unlikely I was gonna use it in this battle since I had no experience with rockets, but still you never know.  
I strapped into my AC quietly, I turned on the monitor screen which I was still getting used to, I always had to deal with monitors but now in this age its done by hologram instead and provided me with a more wider view. I had to get used to the new control scheme, I sometimes pressed the overboost button instead of the weapon select one. I had 3 weeks to get used to this AC and now it sorta feels like second nature. "Ok Chris, get a hold of yourself" I was hitting my head with my fist, "its just you and him, no one else, just you and him" it was feeble attempt to physic myself out  
  
QUITE PLEASE.THIS IS A BATTLE BETWEEN 2 RAVENS LOOKING TO RAISE THEIR RANK IN THE ARENA, THE PARTICIPATANTS ARE DEFECT AND ARROWHEAD boomed the giant Arena Speakers. My AC shifted and began to rise, the sound of a giant crowd getting louder and louder as I rose ARE YOU READY ARROWHEAD? His AC had just risen to my level now, I was looking at his AC dead on "Ready to rock and roll" his voice was amplified by the giant speakers, the crowd cheered with more ferocity, it seems that he was the favorite ARE YOU READY DEFECT? I couldn't wait, I wanted to get this over with "R.r.r.ready" I stuttered, argh I made myself look like an idiot already  
  
BOTH PARTICIPATANTS ARE READY  
  
....  
  
BEGIN!!!  
  
I turned on my overboost and rocketed toward him, he replied with his own red flamed overboost, we were gonna collide in a second, one of us had to do something. And he did, he lifted his AC higher and did a devastating air blade on my left shoulder. My back missiles where destroyed instantly and I suffered 3000 total. The first move and he was already in the lead by 3000 AP, I acted instantly and switched to my back rocket and fired twice, it hit him in the chest and leg area as he boosted past me. I turn-boosted and switched to my machine gun. He also used his boost extension but it allowed him to do a boost upward out of the lock box of my FCS. "sh*t" I said the blood in my ears numbed out the cheers of the crowd "up here" he said in a cocky voice and let lose a volley of missiles I boosted back just as the first wave hit the ground I just was a second ago, the second volley closed in, I had to think, I pressed the firing trigger and blasted nearly all of the missiles with my energy assault, I dogged the remaining two and looked up. His AC was almost directly above me and I knew what was coming, quickly boosting to the right just as he used his extensions and boosted down with plasma blade drawn. If I hadn't boosted a split second before he woulda aired blade me and destroy my AC right then and there. "CR*P!!!" he shouted, he wasn't expecting me to have dogged and his AC creaked as it absorbed the impact of the ground, this was my chance, I took aim and let loose a halo of energy rounds on him. The crowd cheered even more and began to go wild. The quad quickly recovered and overboosted toward me, letting loose a Grenade round. It hit me full on and my screen flashed "OUTPUT DOWN" on the top of my monitor, my head was screaming for me to do something, I had just enough time to see that he had his blade ready to piece right thru me.  
  
"TAKE THIS!" he roared, my AC was facing a completely different position, he was aiming at my blind spot, he let out a cheer of triumph and then he let loose his blade, I felt myself spinning.  
  
My eyes where closed.I didn't want to open it.I knew that I had lost, I just knew it, there was no way I coulda survived that blade attack.I waited for my computer to tell me about the destruction of my AC.I waited and waited and then I heard it..the crowd.it was cheering.louder and louder.and then.and then I opened my eyes  
  
THE WINNER OF THIS BOUT IS ADRENALINE PILOTED BY DEFECT  
  
I couldn't believe it, I had won, I actually won the match. When I closed my eyes I pressed my turn-booster and laser blade at the same time, allowing my AC to perform a much larger slash and allowing me to catch him before his blade struck, his AC was a mess. I sliced off his front left leg and deep into his core, his AC leaning forward leaning to the left, his left arm locked in place ready to release the blade  
  
THE WINNER SHALL RECIVE A PRIZE OF 1,000 CREDITS FOR THIS BATTLE, AND NOW TAKES ARROWHEADS PLACE IN THE ARENA AT RANK E-10, HE IS ALSO AWARDED AN AC PART SUPPLIED BY CREST FOR HIS VICTORY.  
  
I didn't hear any of it, I was happy that I finally got into the arena, the ranked 50th person in the arena ladder always had to defend his or her rank with the hundreds amount of AC pilots wanting to join the arena ladder. Tomorrow I was gonna have to defend my rank and try to raise it as well. They only open the arena once every 3 months and lasts a week, this week was my chance to raise to show everyone what I got.  
  
"oh my god Chris that was one hell of a battle" Jean was bouncing with joy when she came down to the garage, "don't you think so Steve?" "yeah but now I'm stuck fixing the AC now" I knew he enjoyed the battle, when my reputation raises so do theirs, so we all were happy that I won. I loved the feeling of the arena, I loved the excitement and I loved the battles, my desires to become the top ranking Raven intensified, this is what I've always loved when I became a Raven, and the arena kept my flame burning. 


	4. Carrot Girl

Chapter 4: Carrot girl  
  
Its been 3 days since the arena opened, and I wished I had 10 days more. Despite my hard fought battle with Arrowhead the next set of Ravens were a synch. It was probably because at the last Arena competition Arrowhead was the last to battle and only managed to secure the 50th spot. I had already risen my rank to D-4, but the battles left something to be desired, it seemed I was just challenging fresh faced nestlings. I had flashed thru the ranks in a blur, and also watched higher ranked Ravens lose their rank just as fast. The whole arena ladder had to be updated every 30 minutes due to the fact that all the higher ranking ravens tried to get higher and all the ravens not even ranked at all tried to get a piece of the action. One particular Raven I noticed a lot was Xerox. He had been knocked off the 50th spot more time then I could count and now I was witnessing him battling for the E-7 spot. He used a different AC this time, I knew that it was comprised of Martian parts because it seems that the Martian Corporations liked to be flashy, there parts were work of arts. He had a flamethrower, the MIRROR shield, a missile pack on his back and a what appears to be a chaingun. I really don't know why he would bother with a chaingun, I thought he woulda turned quad based after his battle with me. But amazingly he won, I guess the kid does have some skill. "Hey Chris you ready yet?" Jean was with Steve in the garage checking up on my AC, in my last bout a bazooka shell got logged in my right booster part.  
  
"Ready? My next battle isn't for another 4 hours" I replied "So?" she was eyeing my like a hawk "What?" I said, "I'm gonna relax and cool off " I began to stroll down the corridor, not caring where I ended up just somewhere to relax, I still began shaking before every fight, I thought I had gotten over it but I guess now. My stomach began to rumble, huh I thought, I haven't eaten in a while, I walked pass the dinning hall, ignoring the smell of fish tacos that wafted from behind the counters and looked for the closest vending machine, maybe some artificial chicken today. I always wanted to know why people say that everything taste like chicken, personally I wanted to know how a real chicken tasted like being that their extinct and all, and find out for myself. 3 hours and 14 minutes before my battle and I still haven't found a vending machine. Even the fish tacos began to look appetizing, hell I woulda eaten my shoe before ever admitting that, when I bumped into someone. She was rushing past when I "daydreamed" into her path. A bowl of salad and some lamb chops landed on top of me, I shoulda had my mouth open. "Ohhhhh I'm so sorry!" she was panicking on the ground looking for her glasses, I had bumped into an intern of another Raven I guessed, some carrots lost in her orange hair "That ok" I replied and handed over her glasses, after wiping the soup from it with my shirt.it wasn't a good idea since my shirt was soaked as well "oh thanks" she put on her glasses over her black eyes with some cucumber pieces still on the leans, from my shirt no doubt "here let me help you, I daydream a lot and don't watch where I was going" I pulled her up and bent over, gathered up her salad, chops and papers "awww, now my report is ruined" it seemed that the soup didn't mix well with the paper she was carrying "how come you have paper? Isn't it easier to just carry a disk?" this was the first time I actually saw paper "huh? Oh it makes a good impression, I mean paper is hard to come by these days" she was still blushing gathering her plate and pushing her oversized glasses up with her pinkie "makes sense can I do anything to say I'm sorry?" I wanted to make it up to her, paper cost 100 credits a sheet these days, yikes! I thought "oh no that's ok" she was still blushing, "my names Renee by the way" "how come you told me your name?" I asked raising an eyebrow "because I knew you where going to ask it" she took heed and left, shouting "see you around" when she turned into a corner still dripping and leaving behind a trail "Renee.?" I said to myself as I took a bite out of a piece of carrot I still had in my hands  
  
"YOUR LATE YOUR LATE!!!" Jean was hitting me over the back, she was pissed I showed up 3 minutes late. I had finally found a vending machine all the way across the building when the arena attendant announced the beginning of my match "GET IN THERE!!!" she kicked me into my cockpit and shoved my helmet to me, "your AC was already suppose to be up there, if your AC isn't at arena level in 30 seconds your disqualified!!!" Jean was always scary when she got angry, my HUD finally closed over me blocking out her yelling but she switched to her com link to me and started yelling into it, causing my right ear to go temporarily deaf.and least I hoped it was temporary.  
  
COMBATANT DEFECT IS READY TO BEGIN THE MATCH  
  
I just made it with 3 seconds to spare, I put on my gloves and helmet, not noticing that I put my gloves on the wrong hands I turned on my vid link and got a look at my opponent. "so you finally showed up huh?" it was a female this time, and a butch one at that "yeah yeah yeah hold your horses" I relied, switching on all my weapons, this time I had to go up against a heavy weight tank, from what I hear she's also an AC mechanic at Global. Looks like she's trying to raise her rank in this arena as well.  
  
BOTH ARENA COMBATANTS DEFECT AND FLYING FIX ARE READY TO BEGIN, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY, PLEASE ENJOY THE BATTLE  
  
I could hear the crowd again, my heart started to slow down, my hand stopped shaking, I was ready  
  
BEGIN!!!  
  
I switched to my ground torpedoes and let loose 5 sets of them, Flying Fix was expecting me and dropped her decoys, all my missiles where locked on the floating orbs that surrounded her, she overboosted toward me with her slug gun posed to fire, I dogged left and got nipped by the spread blast. I miss judged my landing and landed hard "CR*P!" I was at the right range for her slug gun blast to do optimal damage, she fired 2 rounds and both hit squarely in the chest "ha!" she was enjoying herself, I knew she was a skilled pilot and I shouldn't have underestimated her. I boosted above her as soon as her flamethrower shot its flames, I positioned myself slightly above her and released my blade, it sliced thru the barrel of her slug gun "One down" I told myself, my plan was to get rid of her most devastating weapons, she dropped the damaged one and switched to a new model "if you thought that was bad, this is worst!" she turnboosted toward me and fired it, 5 bazooka shells erupted from the cannon, 2 of witch hit my rocket housing. She had changed one of her slug guns with a spread bazooka back piece and made it look like a regular slug gun "Sly devil" I said "I wasn't expecting that" I switch to my rockets and fired off a round, my rockets missed her by a mile, her bazookas must have damaged the firing system of my rockets because they were firing at weird angles now "You want me to fix that?" she was mocking me now, I changed to my missiles again and pressed the trigger when I got a lock, this time she was caught by surprise, she deployed her decoys but it was too late my missiles where locked on her AC this time. Being a tank she couldn't do anything about it, she was too slow to dodge so she took my missiles head on. Her right arm got the brunt of the attack rendering her arm bazooka useless, it didn't matter I still had the one on her back to deal with. I checked my AP and hers, it was 4738 to 7352, I had to even the odds, and fast. I knew what would help with that, I fired my machine gun and watched her AP drop 1000 after my first burst. "Get ready for the end" I yelled over the com link "Yeah yours!" she let her flamethrower do the talking, I forgot that my AC was in range and watched my heat raise as fast as her AP was going down. She overboosted to my left and switched to her slug bazooka, I couldn't overboost yet, I was waiting for my heat to go down, OUTPUT DOWN blaring on my screen, just 200 more degrees to go. She fired a spread and luckily all of them missed, I turned around and switched to my rockets, I was feeling lucky. I fired 5 rockets into Flying Fix's direction, my fingers crossed, I overboosted toward her. All my rockets hit their mark and she landed her AC directly infront of mine "game over" I whispered and watched as her red toned AC become an orange glow after my blade attack.  
  
"wow Chris that was one hell of a battle" Jean was impressed with me, it seemed the battle cooled her down.but I guess not enough, "but if your late for another Arena battle your gonna get it!" she started to wave her fist around in the air, taking aim at my shoulder and punched me "owww" I pretended, "so when is my next battle?" "lets see its scheduled for 9 o clock, so that leaves you 6 hours to roam around, make sure your not LATE!" "I know, don't worry I'll just take a quick nap" "no napping for you!" her voice started to raise, " you know how groggy you are when you wake up, and a nap is like 9 hours" its true I'm a log in bed "so I guess I'll just wonder around the city then" I thought about paying my brothers Darren and Julius a visit, "see you around Jean, I'll make sure that I'm not late this time" "you had better!"  
I wondered past the lounge and saw another battle was taking place on the monitor. An orange hover AC and a black reverse jointed AC where duking it out, I soon lost interest and walked out of the Nest, I rather be the one fighting then watching. I jumped onto my Black motorcycle in the garage and speeded past the guard booth, surrounding it were 10 heavy MTs and a Green heavy weight bipedal AC equipped with a grenade launcher and sniper rifle. I waved to Vent in his AC, he replied with a wave of his rifle, we all took turns guarding the nest, ever since other Ravens Nest "Nerves Concord" got attacked. It was the worst terrorist attack recorded, killing hundreds of Ravens before it was stopped. At the end Nerves Concord was almost disbanded and many of their Ravens left for earth or to the neighboring nest Rapture Point. I hope it doesn't happen here on earth.  
I don't know how people could live their lives so.normally, especially my brothers. Both where the same age and still in training academy, aspiring to follow in the footsteps of their big brother but only as inters, which came as a relief, I never wanted to fight them Raven to Raven. They've been surviving on "chump change" for quite some time now, I don't know how they could do it. I left 2000 credits on their account (which would no doubt be spent on video games) and walked around the upper portion of the colony. Since we've been underground so long, many of us refused to live and opted to live underground the rest of their lives. Life above ground they say was "unpredictable".  
I loved walking under the light of the sun, not any artificial light that I grew up on, I loved the heat the sun provided, I loved the way it shined, but I had to turn my eyes if I started at it for too long. It was after I got blinded with the sun when I happened to bump into Renee. I wasn't looking (hell I was blinded) and bumped into her again. "huh? Oh I'm sooo sorry!" I replied, even after a year I still didn't learn about not looking into the sun "hey.its you again" she looked at me (at least I thought she was) and tried to remember my name "its Chris" I was still blinking, "you didn't give me a chance to let me tell mine" "Chris huh? So still want to repay me for the paper you wasted" she asked me "uhh, yeah sure, what do you want?" my vision had just returned and I saw her blushing "How about a date?" she giggled "Date?" I was reeling back, "sure, uhh ok" "great!!" she was smiling now, I couldn't hold back mine when I saw hers "how about we meet at 6 o clock in front of the Ravens nest?" so I'm gonna repay her with a date I thought, I better choose an expensive restaurant "sure, 6 o clock tonight it is" she was skipping ahead of me now, "see you there" "yeah see you." she was outta sight before I could finish my sentence, I looked at my watch, it was 4 already which left me 2 hours to get ready. I got to my bike and speed to the nest, I ran to Jeans office promptly making her spit out her soda onto her monitor when I scared her "Jean I need help" this was my first date ever, and I needed help 


	5. Too Bad So Sad

Chapter 5: Too bad soo sad  
  
.Rule 7-NEVER ASK FOR A WOMANS AGE Rule 8-ALWAYS SMILE AT HER Rule 9-NEVER SLURP UP YOUR SPAGHETTI IN FRONT OF HER.  
  
"Spaghetti? I don't think we're going to eat spaghetti Jean" I was overwhelmed, all these rules about women, and I was suppose to remember it in 2 hours, Jean was drilling me in her office about the do's and don'ts of dating. "Well too bad" she wheeled around her chair facing me, "you asked for my help and you're gonna get it" "But is this all really.necessary?" I thought we were just gonna eat and talk, Jean wanted me to set up a parade to go along with it "No but you have no experience once so ever Chris" she looked at me sizing me up, "we need to buy you some new clothes" "Why? what's wrong with this one?" I was holding up a pair of ripped jeans and a jacket, she promptly knocked them outta my hand "WHATS WRONG WITH YOU!!! ITS YOUR FIRST DATE YOU NEED TO LOOK NICE AND HANDSOME FOR HER!!!!" she was angry now, I always feared the red headed beast. "Its just a bite Jean, I don't even know where to take her." that did it, she erupted I had forgotten one of the rules (always know where your going to take a women out for dinner) "FINE THEN!!! GO OUT LIKE THAT SEE HOW SHE'LL LIKE YOU NOW!!!" and with that she shoved me out of her office and slammed the door, everyone in the corridor looked at me "uhh-she's uhhh" my mind only thought up one explanation, "having her period right now"  
  
Some of the rules made sense like buying flowers, and being the one to pay for the date, so I brought at least 500 credits and bought a flower, I don't know why people buy flowers, I guess it's a tradition from the past. At 5:55 I was at the entrance waiting for her, I didn't have to wait long. She was wearing ripped jeans and a jacket (der.why'd I buy dress pants) and tied her long hair into a bun with a pencil holding it in place "nice pants" she said "yeah.thanks" I handed her the rose (thanks a lot Jean) "you look errr lovely" (I hope your happy) "why the stiff look?" she was eyeing my jacket, "oh so your Defect" I looked down, my emblem (which resembled a shield with a dent) was on my jacket "Yeah that's my handle" I replied, "ready to go?" "On that?" she motioned to my motorcycle, "I thought you'd never ask" letting lose a smile  
  
Our first stop was to go shopping, if Jean likes shopping then I guessed she liked shopping too, she did and she saw an orange scarf that she wanted, I bought it for her and was rewarded with a hug, unlike Jean Renee bought thinks that I wouldn't mind having. She bought a copy of the new mech game, Armored Warrior, it let you create a mech out of 400+ parts and you got to fight each other with your creation. Very sweet. "Hey Chris" she paused to lick her ice cream cone, "I saw your fight today, it was really awesome" "Thanks Renee" we had just stopped by a street peddler and bought a cone "That was cool how your Machine gun could fire its rounds so fast, do you use it often?" "Yep, it help me win most of my battles so far, it's a import from Mars" I began to lick my icecream but it fell of my cone onto the ground "Really?" she giggled and took another lick, "hey what time is it?" I checked my watch and almost flipped "oh man its 8:43!!!" "Really?!?" she licked her icecream so hard that it fell right next to mine "oh man I'm sorry Renee I gotta go, my next battle is in like 15 minutes" "wait I gotta be somewhere too, come on lets get back to the nest" she was running with me to my bike, I cant believe I was with her for so long, I guess I was so absorbed with her that I lost my sense of time, which rarely happens.  
When we got back to the Nest we rushed in, "Thanks Chris I had a really great time" she was holding my hand running in front of me "Yeah me too, lets do this again sometime?" we had just passed thru the entrance "sure!" she was smiling again I thought fast, before we split up I stopped her for a second and gave her a kiss, she was surprised but she knew what was happening and stood with me "what was that?" she asked after our faces separated, her face red her smile even wider "first rule of dating" I winked at her "always end the date with a kiss, see you later" then I turned and ran down to the loading bay as fast a possible, I didn't want to face the red haired beast again.  
  
"Chris, you made it!" Jean was waiting by my AC, I was out of breath by the time I got to her "huff.huff.yeah" I had to rush to my room and put on my suite, I forgot I didn't have it on when I got the loading bay and had to run all the way to the barracks to get it. "well your battling against really skilled pilot" she looked worried "be careful" "I always" I put on my helmet and slipped into my cockpit, turning on all the switches as my AC was being prepared to rise up to the Arena "Well Steve couldn't fix you rockets in time so your gonna have to deal with a pulse cannon" "A cannon?" I never liked stopping and with cannons you needed to kneel down to use them unless you had quad or tank legs. "Couldn't be helped, good luck" she sounded nervous for some reason, "hey Chris your opponent is." "Don't sound so nervous Jean, its gonna be a quick battle ok?" "Ok take care" "Tell you what I'll take you shopping tomorrow ok?" I was in a really good mood after the date, "so don't worry" I turned on my vid and faced my opponent.  
  
QUITE PLESE.THANK YOU, THE COMBATANTS FOR TODAY ARE YURI AND DEFECT  
  
I was up against Xerox's sister, I hope she won't have a grudge after what I did to her brother  
  
BOTH ACS ARE READY  
  
. BEGIN!!!  
  
The AC I had to challenge was completely made of Martian parts, seems that both Yuri and Xerox favored Martian parts as opposed to Earth's. Her AC was all orange, the same one I saw fighting when I was in the lounge, this time she changed the leg piece into a quad. She had the ZWG-HC-IR/K99 plasma rifle as a right hand weapon and the ZWM-M24/IMI missile launcher, d*am, I thought, that missile launcher was banned on Mars, looks like anything is far here. She even had a left hand rocket launcher, looks like I was gonna have to work for this win. "Lets get this started" I announced "Lets" I heard her respond I switched to my machine gun and boosted toward her, ready to show her what I got, she merely stood still and took aim with her plasma rifle. I was in range to unleash hell when she fired 5 blasts of her rifle "WHAT THE HELL?!?!" I shouted over the com link, with 3 blast my machine gun was toast, with the last 2 it knocked out my core well away from her. "too bad soo sad" she replied I switched to my missiles and began to flank her, the energy blast from her rifle almost completely drained her energy bar. Seeing my opportunity I boosted above her to let loose a blade slash. Her left arm rockets tore my right arm to shreds, my blade stuck her but she continued to assault my AC with rockets. I had to overboost out of the path of her rockets, I switched back to my missiles and let volley upon volley damage her core. It was a bad move, she turned on her missiles and fired back. Almost immediately after the first wave another set were launched, and another and another. I turned on my overboost and weaved left and right dogging the missiles toward her core. I did another blade slash on her orange core, boosting back. I turnboosted and fired my missiles again. She didn't have the same amount of experience of dogging as I did, nearly all my missiles hit her while only 1 missile per volley hit mine. "Is that all you got?" I was getting pissed for not being able to use my machine gun, this battle would have been over but I refused to use the pulse cannon on my back. She had only 732 AP when my missile storage were empty. "d*mn it" I said I looked at her rockets and remembered what it did to my right arm. It also seemed that her energy bar had finally refilled because she began boosting toward me. All I had was a laser blade, the pulse cannon forgotten on my shoulder, I boosted toward her. She fired her plasma rifle again in conjunction with her rockets. I tried to raise my AC above her but I was too low. The attack intended for my core was dealt to my legs. My overboost fell short and I landed infront of her, my legs not functioning I crashed into the ground hard, my cockpit shaking violently with every roll. "ughh" I said as my AC scraped against the ground causing sparks, I was still moving thanks to the momentum from my overboost, my AC flopped around like a rag doll. My core was facing her AC, the orange in my eyes, I hoped Renee wasn't watching this. The core just sat there infront of me not moving. "What's wrong? FIRE!!!" I wanted her to end my humiliation already when I got an idea. I grabbed my control stick and switched to my pulse cannons.heh they did have a use after all. She aimed her plasma rifle at me when I fired. Because my Core was laying on the ground I didn't have to worry about the recoil from the cannons, I let a flurry of pulse blast at her core, reducing her AP to 0. I was more surprised then she was. Her AC groaned and leaned forward when something hit me "I've seen that emblem before." I said  
  
Yuri took off her helmet, the battle was over and she wasn't the victor. She was surprised at the sudden attack made by Defect, if she hadn't hesitated earlier she would have won. She looked into her helmet, she knew there was something stuck in her hair. She pulled out a piece of carrot and smiled, remembering her first kiss. 


	6. It Begins

Chapter 6: It Begins  
  
This was the last day the arena would be open and this was the last battle. All rankings were final, I had reached C-8 and all that was left was an exhibition match between our top ranked Raven with a neighboring nest's one. In this case it was a Raven by the name of Adieu from Global Cortex, after attaining top rank in their arena Adieu was a favorite to battle in the MOR on Mars along with our home boy err.girl Cherry Wood. The sponsors of the arena decided on an exhibition between the two and labeled it the "Master of Arena" "You know Cherry Wood was the reason I became a Raven in the first place" Renee said holding onto my arm. Renee and I had gotten closer after our bout together and we wouldn't miss this AC battle for the world, and so did a lot of other Ravens, the corridors were empty before the start of the match, it seems they all wouldn't miss this battle either. "No kidding" I raised an eyebrow, "how much you wanna bet Adieu will win" "Your on" she looked up in thought, "the loser has to eat the fish tacos in the dinning hall" "Ewww." my stomach turned, "ok, I bet on Adieu while you bet on Cherry Wood" "Fine" she put her head on my shoulder, "I hope you know where the closest bathroom is when you puke the tacos out" "I hope you do to" I said with my crooked smile, "look their starting" I sat up on my chair and got ready for a great fight.  
  
THIS IS A BATTLE BETWEEN TWO DEADLY RAVENS OF DIFFERENT NESTS The speakers where at their loudest, but it was over noised by the crowd  
  
THE RAVEN RANKED AT A-1 CHERRYWOOD OF THE NEST "CLAYMORE FACTION" WILL DO BATTLE WITH RANKED A-1 ADIEU OF THE NEST "GLOBAL CORTEX" BOTH HAVE BEEN RAVENS FOR 5 YEARS AND HAVE GONE THROUGH MANY DEADLY BATTLES IN THE ARENA AND SURVIVED MANY MISSIONS The crowd was cheering madly now, the attendant's voice lost in the roar, it was hard to make out what she was saying  
  
PRESENTING CHERRY WOOD The females of the crowd screamed and so did some of the guys, I've seen the pilot in person, she was what many say, eye candy, and I couldn't agree more. She had long flowing light brown hair streaked with red, her green eyes shone with a seductive look, she was about my height and had the voice that could charm any animal into a tame state, even Jean. Her AC waved to the crowd, it was a hover with a grenade rifle and duel missiles on the back, it was even equipped with a left handgun, it had a reddish pink color scheme her emblem was the queen of hearts.  
  
PRESENTING ADIEU The crowd screamed for him too, he was more popular with the girls, even Renee gave him a cheer giving me an innocent look. He was 6 feet and had a scar that ran down the left side of his face. He had gotten it from the battle with Ace during a mission. Ace was another A-1 Ranked pilot and it musta took a lot to beat him. His AC's color scheme was the default plain silver and was a mid weight bipedal equipped with a Fire missile launcher, a left arm howitzer and ( I shuddered) a Kawasawa, its silver finish gleamed in the arena lights, the weapon shone eerily in my eyes and I turned away. "Anything wrong Chris?" Renee felt me shudder "Nah" I faked a shudder, "shoulda brought a jacket" His AC fired a Kawasawa blast at the ceiling, prompting the crowd to roar louder. I shuddered again, the noise this Kawasawa made was different, it was a whooshing sound but it still sounded how a Kawasawa should sound like, death. I was having second thoughts about watching this battle, until I felt the heat from Renee's body, I couldn't leave, her heat warmed his soul and erased any ideas of leaving, I couldn't leave her, not now.  
  
THE BATTLE WILL COMMENCE IN 5.4. I couldn't wait, this battle will be burned into my memory 3. I felt Renee's grasp tightening I knew she couldn't wait either 2. Here it comes the moment of truth 1.  
  
BEGI-  
  
The arena speakers exploded in an instant, the cheers where replaced with screams as a whole section of Seats incinerated in flames. It was a terrorist attack. "WHAT THE F**K?!?!" I was screaming I had to get Renee out of here "CHRIS!" her grip was tightening, I heard her breath speeding up, her eyes darted back and forth, she began hyperventilating, her hold became a death grip "Renee what's wrong???" I began to sweat, my hand started shaking, I did what only came natural. I picked her up and ran out of the burning dome, I passed a few Ravens who began trampling civilians on their way to the exit, I passed others that where helping the trampled ones up, I ran into the corridor which was flashing red lights, the intercom kicked in.  
  
ATTENTION ATTENTION ALL RAVENS SCRAMBLE TO THE GARAGE, CLAYMORE FACTION IS BEING ATTACKED, I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL CLAYMORE FACTION IS BEING ATTACKED ALL RAVENS ASSEMBLE TO ASSIST IN DEFENDING THE RAVENS NEST.ATTENTION ATTENTION  
  
I ran toward the garage, Renee still gripping my hand beads of sweat dripped from her forehead, this was the first time I had seen her like this, but then again we've only been together for 3 days. I was carrying her past a bunch of screaming people when she turned toward me, her eyes filled with an unknown fear, I knew that this wasn't natural. Another explosion rocked the building and I stopped waiting for the aftershock to dissipate, I held Renee closer, tears were now streaming down her eyes. I knew that leaving her alone wasn't safe and allowing her to pilot her AC was out of the question, I only hoped Steve and Jean were still kissing in the garage. "Jean!" I yelled, it was useless since everyone was scrambling to their ACs, another explosion caused an AC loading tower to topple, crushing a crew of AC technicians, my heart leaped, they where good friends I had known since I first started out. "Jean!" this time I heard a respond, she was looking for me, and called me over, I got to her and saw Steve sitting against the wall, a pylon from one of the loading towers pieced thru his right leg, blood was soaking into his jeans "no" I said looking in disbelief, " no Steve hang on!" "Shut up Chris" Steve's gruff voice hardened and he smiled, "it's only a flesh wound" "Help me pull it out of him Chris" Jean had tears streaming down her cheek but I would have never guessed she was upset if the tears wasn't there "Sure" I let loose of Renee but she was still gripping me, I turned toward her and spoke calmly "Renee" I patted her head, "I'm still here" she looked at me and let go, she started to calm down. I grabbed one end of the beam while Jean grabbed the center of it. I pulled hard and heard metal scraping aginst bone, the beam came out cleanly, Jean then took off her shirt. She wrapped it around Steve's wound and pulled tightly "arrrgggg" Steve groaned and looked at Jean, "I finally got your shirt off" and smiled, Jean smiled back and wrapped her arms around him "help him up you two need to get out of here" I said, I handed Steve the beam I had just pulled out, he needed a crutch, "take Renee with you I'm joining in the battle" I turned and jumped into an elevator that would take me to my core, "Come back alive you hear!!!" Jean yelled after me I was joined by other Ravens this time we were all fighting on the same side. I waved my hand to Jean as the door closed, I took a deep breath.  
  
I turned on my Vid and weapons, this time I had a rifle, a slug gun and a duel missile launcher equipped, new parts were being shipped from Mars and I had to make due with these. "AC Everman online" I heard a man on the com link, his AC was snow white with a green core "AC Yeti online" another one with a white AC but this time a tank "AC Adrenaline online" I responded and watched as the garage door opened "AC Laminate online" I tuned to my left, it was Xerox this time he had a quad, looks like he took my advice, and it lookes like I have to become baby sitter, I didn't want Renee to look sad anymore "AC Bug Zapper online" another quad this time yellow, that was all of us in this garage, we all prepared to leave when a grenade round blasted into our garage and hit Yeti in the chest "****" he said, "I'm still green lets get out of here!!!" Yeti's pilot yelled over the link "Who's attacking us?" Everman was already firing at an MT that had just stormed in "No clue" Bug Zapper replied "I heard it's the same group that attacked Nerves Concord, but I'm not certain" she was trying to hide the fear in her voice "Well who ever it is, is gonna pay for ruining a good match" said Everman "Here Here" we all shouted, we all boosted out and entered hell.  
Half of our nest was in flames, explosions rocked the vehicle garage and a chunk of the barracks fell to the ground some on top of fallen ACs that littered the ground. I hoped Jean got Renee and Steve out of there in time. The surrounding City scape was reduced to rubble, untold amounts of lives were fighting for survival at this very moment. I looked at the guard station and saw Vent's AC motionless, smoldering in a heap but Vent himself was still firing rockets at the attackers from the ground. I looked up and saw our opponents. "What the hell?" Bug Zapper's voice began to shake now They were all different ACs with the same emblem, my heart got stuck in my throat. The emblem consisted of s black ball with the number 9 across it. I couldn't hold back my crooked smile any longer, this was the great finale, and one hell of a battle. I boosted toward the nearest one, tears streaming down my eyes now, before I began my attack I whispered.  
  
I'm sorry. Renee. 


	7. These arn't Ravens

Chapter 7: These aren't Ravens  
  
"Daddy! Daddy! Where are you daddy!!!" "I'm right here Renee" her father's deep voice resounded around the corner The building was in flames, the product of an arsine attack by a delinquent looking for attention, and Renee was stuck in her room, surrounded by the fire, she was only a little kid "Daddy help me!" tears streaming down her eyes, this was the first time she had ever been afraid, this was the first time she had seen destruction "Don't worry sweetie" he had just entered the room, "Daddys here" on his back was her little brother Jeff, still asleep A log fell from the ceiling, onto her doll house, the flames licking her dolls until they melted into a plastic puddle. Renee's mind began spinning, the smoke slowly suffocating her "Hang on Renee" Her dad leap across a gaping hole on the ground, they lived in a 2 story wooden house, the only one on Mars. He tried to pick Renee up but she wouldn't have it, she cowered into the corner, holding her most prized possession, a pendent giving to her by her mom "Sweetie" her dad said, she looked up "I'm still here" and patted her head, "lets get out of here" his voice still calm. Renee felt calmer, whenever her dad spoke she felt like water, calm and tranquil. She jumped into his arms and he turned toward the doorway. He jumped over the hole again and rushed down the hall toward the stairs, a fire erupted infront of him almost burning Renee. Down the stairs he went careful that neither his offspring got burned by the fire on the railing, he saw the door wide open and glanced at the cool night. He dashed thru the living room, not yet engulfed by flames and out of the door. He let go of Renee and told her to take Jeff with her "Daddy, wheres mommy? How come shes not out here?" Renee's innocent tone stuck his heart, he still had to go back and get her. "daddy, DADDY!!" Renee was screaming at her dad, he had left her to run back into the building when it struck her ".mommys still inside." she stuttered  
  
She had woken up from her trance, her heart still pounding, Chris where's Chris she asked herself "Come back alive you hear!!!" she heard Jean yelling next to her Renee looked up and saw Chris in the elevator, his hand waved as the door shut "CHRIS!!!" Renee screamed, but he didn't hear it "Renee!" Jean turned toward her, "are you ok now?" "no, what's happening? Where am I???" Renee was confused the last thing she remembered was being in the arena with Chris when she heard an explosion "your in the garage, come on we need to get out of here" Jeans tears were wiped away all that was left was the eyeliner that streaked her face. Renee looked at the man that Jean was helping up, he had a wound on his leg. "Where? She asked" her mind went to her AC but it was in another Garage across the building "To my car, hurry" she was speeding up now, the man she was holding was using a bloody pole as a crutch  
The 3 of them ran down the corridor, derbies of metal on the ground, mostly from the ceiling and side of the walls not the walls themselves. People were still running out of the Nest, Renee was disgusted to see Ravens running away but she was running also so she kept her mouth shut. Her mind wondered to her brother, where was he? She thought and soon the thought changed to Chris and his crooked smile, she hoped that he was still alive after this. "This hallway, I never park my car in the garage" said Jean, they ran out of the Nest and into the outdoor lot. The area was littered with dead people, the ones who came to watch the arena battle no doubt, all of them were scorched from what it looks like a flamethrower. He turned and looked up she saw Adieu battling with another AC, fighting side by side with Cheery Wood, they where surrounded by 5 ACs all with the same emblem of a 9- ball. She had seen this before.in the arena on Mars she remembered a similar design, but instead it was of an 8-ball. Jean shouted at Renee to get into the car, Renee turned and saw Jean in a red car, she took one last look at Cherry Wood her idol and jumped in.  
Jean sped away, past a smoldering green AC at the entrance. Renee didn't want to turn around, she didn't want to see the battle that raged on in the background. She heard the explosions she heard all the muted screams, she heard people dying. She began to flash back to her child hood, back to that fire.  
  
Jean looked into her rear view mirror, she saw that Renee had zoned out again, seating in her seat not moving, breathing slowly she saw her hand grip on the jeans she was wearing. Jean looked at Steve, he was still in pain but smiling at her. Jean thought she was calm, she thought she was in control, but she wanted just hide in a corner, away from all of this. She was on the high way now, far from the nest but destruction had already preceded her. The city was in ruins, a few ACs here and there some logged in the buildings not moving, others completely destroyed. More scorched people laying on the ground, she kept her eyes on the road, trying not to see the destruction and death. An AC fell nearly crushing the car if Jean hadn't swerved earlier. It was a Raven called Addler who had almost crushed them. The AC was sliced in half, the upper torso had crashed onto the road, the one who had caused the destruction was another AC with the 9-ball emblem, It was also equipped with the BITE laser blade, and took aim at Jean's car with a rifle. "Hold on!" she yelled and pressed the pedal of her car to the floor. She looked for the nearest exit and speed toward it, all the while the rifle bullets nearly missing her car. She had just gotten to the exit when she heard a loud noise from the trunk of her car and a violent shake reverberated, a bullet had caused a giant gaping hole at the back of the car, she turned and looked at Renee, she was still sitting, as if nothing had happened. Jean was glad that Renee was ok and not hurt, she faced the road again and sped off into the night.  
  
We have completed our mission, is there anything else you wish to be accomplished?  
  
Said a cold mechanical voice resonating from the AC with the 9ball emblem  
  
"That is all, you may return to the stasis pods to recharge you are all dismissed"  
  
As you wish, we will depart now  
  
"good, good, the 9ball army seems to be working as they should" a voice just as cold as the machine responded, "We have eliminated 7 Raven's Nests, the Ravens will no longer get in our way" "Are you certain that these 9balls are in you're complete control?" a female voice resounded on the link "Yes, remember the one released on Mars? It malfunctioned and went on a rampage, meeting its end at the Avalon Arena, did they find out which Raven terminated it?" another voice this time from an old man, his voice was bearly a whisper. "Negative, the Raven's identity has been erased from all records, it was also presumed that the Raven took out our experimental projects as well" the cold voice replied "Ah yes, in the Lost Fields" the old man's face dull without expression, "make sure these 9balls don't malfunction" and with it he closed the com link "I'll make sure of it" the cold voice shut off his link "Transmission end" the female spoke 


	8. Flown the Coop

Chapter 8: Flown the Coop  
  
"Damage assest team 032Yellow, what's your report" "Level 1 destruction, no annihilation, there's even rubble for the rubble, 7 ACs found northwest of the Nest, almost completely destroyed, their cores with the same markings as the rest" "Any survivors?" "Including civilians?" the leader looked down at the charred remains of what appeared to be a man, "zero" "Ravens?" "All gone, this Nest is empty"  
  
"Another AC, scan the emblem" a man in a blue suit said, he turned to the person next to him, "what's the count so far?" he was looking up at the destroyed behemoth, even though the AC was on its sides it still towered over him "So far including this one.283" "And how many of the 9ball ones?" "72, damn.where did these AC's come from?" "Unknown" the man shrugged "9ball, I just cant believe it" "The scannings done, the pilot." he rearranged his glasses, "is Chris Parker, handle Defect" the other man let out a sigh "Call Jean and tell her we found what she wants" he looked at his assistant, "tell her it doesn't look pretty" the man looked at the giant hole located on the core, peering into the cockpit.  
  
"Jean we need to break it to her sooner or later" Steve was laying on his bed talking to Jean, he was stuck in the hospital and would bed ridden for 3 weeks as his leg healed. It had been 4 days since the attack of Claymore faction, and many rumors were spreading about it disbanding. Jean bit her lips "Look we don't know if he's alive or not, all they found was an empty core" she turned away from Steve's look "Jean, I know its hard to accept it" he kept his voice steady, "but what else could have happened?" he didn't want to show Jean his emotions, he might trigger hers "I know I know!" she was shaking her head, "I'm gonna go out for a walk" she needed some fresh air, she needed time to think. She had checked all nearby hospitals, all shelters, and she had nothing that could explain anything about Chris's position. Her phone rang before she left the room,  
  
"Hello" "Jean? This is Zack about that AC you asked me to look for."  
  
"How are you doing Jeff" Renee was by her brother's side, he was found in his AC, luckily still alive "I told you Renee, I'm a big kid now, you don't need to be watching over me" he was in bed, only suffered a broken arm, he only had to stay for 2 days before he would be released "yeah the only 19 year old who still called himself a kid" Renee smiled, it had been a long time since she had given a person one. "Hey where's your boyfriend?" he chuckled, "I cant believe your dating him" Jean put her hand around her scarf "Renee? What's wrong?" "Its nothing" Renee just had a passing thought "By the way where is Defect, I gotta thank him for watching my back" Jeff said before he stuffed his hospital jell-o into his mouth. Renee got up and walked to the door "Well see you later lil bro" she stepped out, "I'll stop by your apartment after you get out" "Sure see you around" he replied after her  
It was mid afternoon, the suns rays complemented Renee's orange hair, she pushed up her glasses with her pinkie, an old habit since her early childhood. It had almost been a week since the horrifying attack, the Nest was in ruins, she thought that when she had left Mars 6 years ago, all the bad things would stop happening. This wasn't so. She had lost her friends, her comrades, her Nest, her love and almost her brother.  
  
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bacey" someone was talking to me, my head was pounding, where was I and what was I doing here? "Hey come on Defect, you've been asleep for 3 days now" this time it was someone else's voice "Defect you gotta eat something, you cant just lie there" a female, my head was killing me, disoriented, and even worse I had bed hair. "Huh? Where am I?" I said, after the hammers in my head stopped pounding  
  
"You're in a lovely cell, painted a cement grey to bring out the color of the steel bars that are holding us in" the man joked, "would you want to be served dinner now?" "Yeah I'll take some eggs" I replied, catching their smiles as I opened my eyes I was in a cell, big enough for 10 people but was filled with 20. I looked past the bars and saw 5 more similar cells, all filled with people and by the look of things all Ravens. "What are we doing here?" I asked, sitting up I took a good look at the people I was with. Many of them where high ranking Arena combatants, and lucky me the pilot of Cherry Wood, Cynthia was in here too. "Who knows?" she said, tossing her hair back and tying it with a scrunche "What happened? I thought we where all dead meat, how come were still alive?" "It seems that someone wants us alive" it was a man this time, I recognized him as the second ranked Raven of our Nest, that is if we still have a Nest to get back to. 


	9. Living Flesh

Chapter 9: Living flesh  
  
Everytime I closed my eyes my mind went back to the battle, the one that had destroyed my Nest. I didn't know if it was a nightmare or a dream, I just knew that I had to get it out of my head. But it kept coming back to me, as if telling me to remember something, something important, but I couldn't remember what.  
  
"Keoni!" I screamed into my com link, "hold on Keoni, I'm coming!" I boosted toward the AC named Yeti, it was on the ground, a 9Ball had pinned him, it's Bazooka aimed at Yeti's core, exactly where the cockpit would be. "Give it up kid I'm a goner" Keoni gave a sigh, "sayonara-." there was static, his link had gone dead, the 9Ball had fired its round into the core  
  
"NOO! KEONI!!" I looked back at the 9Ball, at first I thought I was up against the ultimate fighting machine, just like the 9Ball of legend that had demolished Isaac city into rubble by it self. No these weren't the same one, these made mistakes, they felt like they had a pilot, the original 9Ball was just an AI program these were real people. I still kept boosting toward the AC that had taken my comrade, he, she, whatever it was, it had to pay. I launched my duel missiles before switching to my rifle, squeezing the trigger button so hard that I had cut circulation to my hand. The 9Ball had fallen already but I didn't care, this one took Yeti, Bug Zapper and Everman. It had taken all 4 of us, Xerox had to retreat before his AC was blasted to smithereens early in the fight, I hoped he was ok. Dispite it making mistakes, it was still a formidable opponent, a Raven of a high caliber. As I witnessed the fight between the 9Balls, I noticed that they all battled differently, one 9Ball fought exclusively from the air while another used only its laser blade. I didn't have time to think though, I had to survive, I just had to, and the only way I knew how was by fighting. Another 9Ball appeared, dropping from the rooftop of a building. It was a reverse jointed AC, brandishing flamethrowers in each hand, a napalm rocket launcher and the CDB-WDF/20 burst missile, it was a missile that would release napalm bomblets before it's impact. It caught sight of a man running away on the street, the 9Ball aimed it's flamethrower and ignited the man into flames. This was sick. "So you're the one who's been roasting the civilians" I couldn't hold it in, this was the one who was killing off the people on the street, the one who's been burning everyone in it's path, getting rid of any witnesses. I didn't respond, nor did I expect it to, this 9Ball was all mine, I could imagine it screaming after I destroyed it.  
I switched to my duel missiles, turned on my extensions which where relation missiles, and fired at it. My missile extension activated and fired 2 more missiles along with the ones on my back. The 9Ball ignited its right flamethrower, a blue blaze came out and destroyed my missiles, the 9Ball then switched on it's overboost. I dogged behind a to my right just as the 9Ball blurred past. It didn't provide much cover, the flamethrower heated up the building. I stood horrified the steel building melted right before my eyes. I had to put some distance between this AC and mines, I boosted into the alleyway, my AC barley fitting thru. The 9Ball had giving chase, it had switched to its napalm rockets now and was aiming onto my AC. Boosting deeper into the city, I didn't want to bring the carnage with me, I didn't want to be responsible for the death of more lives. I had gotten thru the ally just as a rocket flew by and before me lay a construction site, perfect I thought. I ducked behind the alleyway to the side of the entrance and kneeled, switching to my slug gun I aimed at the opening and waited. When it boosted past I opened fire, 3 direct shots "game over" I said as I boosted after it  
The AC turned switching to its back weapon and fired not one but 3 missiles simultaneously, I needed to find cover before they released its droplets on me. I boosted back into a crane "Sh*t!" my AC was caught on the ball hanging, I couldn't get free. 3 seconds before the missiles hit me it released its droplets, I prepared for the worst. The bomblets dropped on me, erupting my AC into flames. "****" I cursed, I saw my cockpit beginning to glow orange, the heat was incredible, anything touching my cockpit walls shriveled up burned at the part that was in contact. A glass monitor that I used for radar melted into a clear puddle, it slowly melted over my overboost button, if I wanted to used it I had to risk getting my hand burned. My core was still intact but badly damaged, the 9Ball was closing in, ready to show me what hell looked like. I looked at the 9Ball and the building behind it. "ahh f*ck it" I said and pressed the overboost button, my hand burning in agony but it didn't matter I wasn't expecting to live after this stunt. My AC rocketed forward into the 9Ball. It ignited both flamethrowers, my radiator couldn't handle the strain and exploded, I crashed into the 9Ball and continued to rocket forward. I was face to face with it now, my core kept boosting forward into the side of a building. The crash was tremendous, but since I had the 9Ball infront of me it got the full force. I took off my helmet and spat out blood, I had bitten my tongue as my cockpit shook violently. I heard the 9Ball creek, its head piece looked up. The 9Ball was still functional, it pushed my AC away to the ground and my AC landed on its sides, I was still facing it. Some of the melted metal from my core stuck to its hands. So this was it, I hoped the building would have crushed us but it seemed god wanted me to die by fire. The 9Ball faced me and aimed both its flamethrowers, with out my radiator my AC would melt into a pile of twisted metal. I looked at it again, and smiled "hehehe" I said blood drooling from my mouth, the crash did produce something good after all. The 9Ball fired and was engulfed in flames, I had ruptured the fuel tank of the flamethrower thanks to my crash and the fuel had covered the AC. The 9Ball didn't know what was happening and continued to fire its flamethrower, I watched as it burned itself on the spot. "Huzzah" I sputtered, I waited as my AC cooled down, I ready to get out of this casket. My hologram monitor had finally malfunctioned, leaving me with nothing to look at when I heard something on my com link. "AC found, beginning extraction sequence" my heart leap someone had found my AC and was trying to get me out, I took off my safety holdings and waited. My core began to shake violently again "Hey what are you guys doing?" I heard something scraping against my core, like a drill.  
  
"DEFECT WAKE UP!" "Wha huh?" I woke up in a sudden, I had that dream/nightmare again "Defect we gotta get out of here, their rounding up the Ravens, I think there finally going to use us "For what?" I said "I don't know" the man looked at a cell full of Ravens who had just been round up and had returned an hour later, I turned toward where he was looking at, the people were still, they all looked like macaques. "And I don't want to find out" at that moment our cell doors opened, the wall behind us begin to move forward, as if it were going to crush us if we didn't go out. "Cr*p, too late" We were moved down the corridor, security droids watching our every move, making sure that we followed the route provided. "F*** this" a pilot dashed into another corridor, 2 robots took aim and fired at him, missing as the man turned into a corner. Bam, as he rounded the corner I heard a gunshot, a blood spatter accompanied it and his body fell limply to the ground, blood dripping down his head making a small puddle. Another man, the one who had shot the Raven in the head walked into view, I couldn't believe who was standing before me. "Theres no escape" his voice chilled my soul, "accept your fate" "No it cant be" my mind was reeling, this couldn't be the same person I knew "Get them outta my face" he said, expressionless and cold "NO WAIT!" I yelled but a drone had prodded my back, ordering me forward, I took another look at the man, it was impossible I thought but my eyes regarded otherwise..  
  
.dad? 


	10. Defective

Chapter 10: Defective  
  
"Come on son, put some heart into it!" "I am, your just too good!" my AC was no match to my dad's, even though he piloted a fossil he knew it like the back of his hand. He was an incredible AC pilot, but many say that his skills as a scientist more than surpass his AC skills. "Don't say that, you can't use it as an excuse" "Oh yes I can, I'm not in the top rank in the arena!" I boosted my AC behind a building as he fired a blast at me "That's why you're here training with me dumb dumb" he brought me to the city scape arena for some training, I was ready to take my Raven's Test but dad wanted me to get some last minute brushing up "What am I going to learn by losing to you?" he had fired 8 shots at me, 7 all dead center reducing my AP to 327 and he still had 42 more rounds left "I don't know" he paused, "I guess learning not to get killed" he chuckled "Ah ha" I forced a laugh I boosted from my cover and fired my bazooka, he was gone before I pressed my trigger, hovering high above me with his Kawasawa rifle aimed right at me "Game over son" That was the last thing he ever said, I heard an explosion, his Kawasawa erupted in his hand taking his AC along with it, his famed Kawasawa had taken another life.his.  
  
"We have begun the second stage of project Black Bird" Defect's father turned toward an old man "Good, good are their ACs ready?" the old man's voice a whisper "Yes we have assembled exact replicas of ACs the Ravens use" "Get them ready, we my friend, are about to begin war" "And Kitty's part?" "She has already worked too hard resurrecting the 9Ball army" he drew in a rattled breath, "now with pilots to take over the AI program we no longer need worry about them malfunctioning, remember she was only able to resurrect 3 perfect 9Balls by the time we attacked the nests, we had to use some of your early experiments to fill in the rest" "Yes that is true, even though the prototype Crows demolished the Nests" he let out a sigh, "to many were terminated by Ravens, it's a good thing I imputed a self destruct mechanism into each one as to erase any evidence to our plans" "Yes, a minor set back, all they found were empty cores whenever they examined the fallen 9Ball ACs so our plans are still veiled, we must hurry though" the old man began to cough, "I fear I do not have enough time to see the fall of the Ravens"  
  
We were filed into a room filled with tubes, big enough to house a person, and that was probably their propose. We had been waiting for about 5 minutes after we had arrived when the door opened, it was my dad. "All of you will strip and enter the tubes" the females of our group let out a hmpf, acknowledging that they will do no such thing "To not comply would mean death" he motioned to the drones with machine guns, "all except you" he looked at me, "you shall follow" A drone prodded me on my back, looks like I had no choice, I exited the room following my dad. Dam I thought, I almost had my chance to see the pilot Cherry Wood naked. He led me to another room, this time it was full of monitors, white lights blaring in my eyes. "You are dismissed" the drone that had followed me exited the room the door closed behind it. "I know what your wondering" he said, "Dispite my appearance I am not your father" "Then who are you?" I was looking at him closely now "I am what you could call a PLUS" he continued "A PLUS?" I had no clue about what he was talking about "A PLUS is a clone of a Raven, but with enhanced abilities" "But how, I thought cloning was banned on earth" "On earth yes, on Mars it's a totally different story, all the top ranked Ravens are PLUS warriors, that's why Martian Ravens have higher skill then the ones on earth" "But why a clone of you?" I paused, "I mean my father" "The one you call your father isn't your father" "Huh?" I said, what was this man talking about of course the man I knew was my father, but then again so was this man in front of me "The one that you grew up with is nothing but a PLUS, your real father was never an AC pilot, he was a scientist trying to create the ultimate fighting machine" "No.it cant be true" my mind was set a back, this didn't make sense "It is" his voice was expressionless, "your father created the first PLUS clone, he used himself as the test subject and I was what was created" he looked at me again, his eyes cold, without a soul, "I was a failure, I didn't exhibit any piloting skills but I did have a use" this couldn't be true, it couldn't "Although I wasn't the better pilot, I was the better scientist and became his assistant, I retained all of his memories and his desires, all his wants and his wishes" I had lost my voice, all my childhood memories with my father was actually with a lump of meat, just a clone "We worked together and finally produced a PLUS with the enhancements we desired it to have, we erased part of its memory and decided to have it watch over you as to not raise any suspicion to our work" This was just too much, I couldn't say anything "He rose up through the ranks, he even began to raise you, without any knowledge that he wasn't the original" he thought for a minute, "that all changed when the both of you were involved with that incident" "Incident?" I finally had said something "Your father, the original was heart broken that he had lost his child" "Lost his child?" I interrupted, "did I have another sibling? "No" he said, "when the PLUS's Kawasawa exploded it not only killed the PLUS but his child as well" "What?" I said, "what do you mean his child died? I'm still here!" "No, the original Chris Parker died in that blast" what he said froze my heart "It cant be." I lost my voice to continue "He grieved and came up with an idea, he decided to create a PLUS of his son" he looked at me, but I knew what he was going to say, "and you are the product"  
  
"I'm.I'm.a PLUS" the words came out of my mouth without expression "Because you retained all of the memories that lead up to the incident, you wouldn't have known" I felt sick to my stomach, my mind raced to all of my battles, every time I closed my eyes, my body reacted accordingly, saving my hide every time, was this the PLUS kicking in? "Your father left you in the place of his son and left for Mars with me when he met up with my master" I didn't care anymore to what he said, my mind was lost in an abyss of denial, but I still had to hear about what he talked about "He was our next test subject and we produced a perfect PLUS of him, the PLUS was hailed on Mars as the Great Revolutionist, Leos Klein" Leos Klein, I knew that name, he was the one who wanted to destroy Mars with the moon Phobos "As the original aged his PLUS lived on, eventually meeting its end to a Raven, my original came to an end after a terrible incident in the lab" he continued, licking his lips "Klein was devastated his PLUS would have produced something that would live forever under his name a Raven had taken it away form him, his hatred for Ravens sparked his wish to whip them out" Why was he telling me all of this? I thought "He then had made contact with his grand daughter who had discovered the factory that the original controller had used to create the 9Ball units, his health failing he wanted nothing more than the destruction of all Raven's Nest both Earth and Mars. His grand daughter managed to resurrect a 9Ball and decided to let it loose on Mars, producing exceptional results. In the end though, the programming was unstable and malfunctioned, as with our other experiments with soon after. Then he created a brilliant plot, to have the Ravens of Earth and Mars destroy each other, he planned attacks on the Raven's nests but he needed a scape goat. The one to take the blame, when it hit him" the man before me smiled, "why not create PLUSs of Ravens and do the attack for them? We have a spy in the best Nests to pic out the Ravens lucky enough to be cloned. Then the Nests would blame another for the attacks bringing on a full scale war that would drag the world with it" with this he drew his gun, the same one that had killed the Raven who had tried to escape "My original master's wish has now been completed" he aimed his gun at me "Hey what the?" I said, looking at the barrel of the gun "He wanted you to know everything, that was his last wish before he died, now that I have accomplished it I am free to kill you " he squeezed the trigger, the gunshot reverberated on the walls  
I closed my eyes, this was it.but I was still alive. I opened my eyes and was in awe. Everything was in slow motion, the bullet had just left the barrel of gun, slowly flying toward me, I looked up at the PLUS of my father, it was motionless looking down at me. I got up, looking at the man, when time resumed. "What?" he started but I was quicker, I pulled the gun out of his hand and aimed it at his head. "You cant shoot me, I'm your father" he said with a smile "Yes you are" I said looking dead straight into his eyes, "I'm not the original Defect" his smile faded, and I squeezed the trigger, his body fell limply to the ground. In my mind he wasn't my dad, and I wasn't his son either. 


	11. Birds of a Feather

Chapter 11: Birds of a Feather  
  
"You can't mean that man!" an old balding man stood up from his seat, he couldn't control it anymore "I mean what I said, nothing will change my mind" Another man, he had a bowl like hair cut, a black glove over his right hand "Look here, you can't prove that our Ravens destroyed your Nest" This time a woman, she was trying to get everyone to calm down, her soothing voice lost in the roar of others  
  
It has been a full week, all the Nests on both Earth and Mars where holding a meeting today to discuss about the attacks, the meeting had started peacefully if a little uneasy, now it was becoming a full scale riot, each blamed the other on the destruction of the Nests, ACs of the Ravens who belonged to a different nest where found in the rubble of another, the ones who attacked. The only thing different was the 9Ball emblem on each AC but many paid little attention to it.  
  
"Then tell me, who is responsible for the ruins that we used to call our home?" "I don't know but whoever it is, they are the ones who should be our enemies not each other" "Bah, it still doesn't explain why your Ravens where found attacking our nest" "No I can't, but you can't explain why yours are found attacking ours either" "All a ploy to look innocent, freighting an attack on your own nest as to not draw attention to yourself" "I am telling you it is not us" "It isn't ours either" "You lie, you all lie!" the man with the glove hit his fist on the table  
  
The arguments have been going back and forth, blaming each other, the remaining Ravens who survived the onslaught began to believe their leaders of the Nest they belong to, harboring a hatred to other Nests. In a matter of hours war would erupt if this continued. Corporations supported and refused Nests, this change in the balance of power would effect everyone. Eventually the most powerful Nests and Corporations would take over, war would assume to gain more power, this was the Great Destruction all over again. The only thing different was that war would not only rage above ground, but below and on Mars. LCC (The Earth government) has no power once so ever, the only military that could speak of were Ravens, and with Ravens at the core of this war they cant do anything to prevent this appending destruction. Klein's plan was in action, all was going as planned, the spy he had planted in one of the Nest provided him with all the information he needed. In addition to the Nests the Corporations began to take part in this war, this would eventually drag the world with it. Klein smiled, at the age of 103 he lived long enough to see another Great Destruction. The original Great Destruction damaged Earth the brink of death, this new one would kill it taking Mars along with it. A ballet of events that would destroy Earth and Mars played in his mind, he would be the destroyer of worlds, the thought amused him, nothing would stop his beautifully mastered plan.  
  
"Renee hold up!" Jean was running toward Renee, the Nests had just declared war, ACs that had survived the destruction where housed in make shift warehouses "Jean, what are you still doing here?" Renee eyed Jean coolly, she thought that Jean would have had left after the warnings had been sounded, she waited as Jean ran toward her, the noise from Jean's shoes reverberated in the empty hall "You know me, anything AC related and I'm there" "But Jean, this is dangerous" Renee tied her orange scarf down "I know its dangerous but I have something for you" Jean reached down her pack and pulled out a disk, "your gonna need this on your AC" "What is it?" "Its to let other Ravens know that your on our nest, don't want any friendly fire now do you?" "Thanks Jean" "Oh and one more thing" Jean looked into Renee's eyes, "come back alive.for him" "So you believe that Defects alive too huh?" "Yes I do." Jean turned, "because on the day the 9Balls attacked" Jean wiped the tears form her eyes unseen by Renee, "Defect called me in on his com link, he told me that he was going to live" Jean turned to Renee, mascara stained on her face, "for you" "Jean." she said, hand trembling as she held her scarf  
  
Ravens were all lined up, the ones that survived the attack would now have to defend the rubble that they used to call home. Their orders where given, any AC that didn't belong to the nest would have to be eliminated on site. In total there had been 83 Ravens who had survived the attack, or where still willing to defend the Nest. Many Ravens left their Nests and joined others, or just plain old gave up. This battle had no money reward, it had no one opposition, anyone who wasn't fighting with you was the opposition, and this mission would continue on until there was a declared winner. The row of Ravens contained grizzled veterans and fresh faced nestlings alike, ahead of them was a woman, the leader of Claymore Faction. She was a woman of 32 years of age, an ex-Raven herself she knew the dangers that lied ahead. She was the one who had released the locks to the surface years ago, her AC Yurushi still in the housing bay, she was ready to join this fight if need be.  
  
"All right everyone" her voice calm and tranquil, "this is it" she calmly strolled down the row of people before her, "the last hurrah" she smiled, "to show them what we've got" She stopped and faced her Ravens, she knew every single last one of them and she knew that she would be paying her respects at their graves or vice versa. It pained her to see her flock dwindle to only a scattered few but there was no way out of this, she held back her tears for she would not be able to stop if she did "Fly off into the horizon and remember" she looked at all of her Ravens once again, "that if your wings tire or when you can fly no longer, this Nest would always be home for you all" with that she sent them off, off to fight in a hopeless war that would only end when there would be one left to fight it.  
  
".Cla.more Fa..n t.is is De.ec., I ha.e im.o.t.nt d.ta, .laymore F..tion do .ou read .e? Claym.re .action do yo. C.py? O.e.r."  
  
"Hey do you guys hear that?" an AC pilot had just received a strange message on his com link, he had been getting this message ever since he had his AC dropped into position to defend the Nest from any attacks "That message? Then it wasn't just me" another AC pilot "Its has too much static, I don't even understand what it's about" "I do, I heard Claymore Faction" "Our nest?" "Oh Sh*t, look there" The mans gaze went to the billowing dust cloud coming from the desert to the north, what was creating the cloud scared him to death and by what he was looking at, he might as well be dead "." "No." "Not again! What are they doing here?" "Send a message to HQ their gonna attack our Nest again!" "All right you b*stards, show me what you've got!" "Ok HQs sending back up" "Back up? We don't need back up.we're already dead"  
  
"Renee get back here now!" Jean was screaming franticly into her com link "Jean? What is it?" Renee rubbed her ears, she knew that Jean had a loud mouth but she might as well be talking to her thru a megaphone, Renee's AC was stationed at the eastern part of the city "Renee, they're here" Jean had just received a message from the Ravens patrolling the northern sector of the empty cityscape, they had spotted a squad of ACs heading toward their direction, right to the Nest "Thanks for the heads up Jean" "Be careful" 


	12. In Wolfs Clothing

Chapter 12: In Wolf's clothing  
  
"This is Pine, the ACs have gotten thru us, we need all Ravens, NOW!" "This is Jean I'm sending Yuri to assist, damit Pine hold on she's on her way!" "Argh! B*stard, it blew up my weapons! I'm falling back" "Damit Pine! Still a coward as always, this is a report to all Ravens."  
  
Renee was overboosting to the site, she was ready to fight off the first wave of attackers with her AC Juliet. She had just got there on time, Pine's AC was pinned under a building and his companions Vex and Charade where incapacitated as well. She opened her com link "You guys ok?" her eyes still on the unknown AC, its back turned toward her "I'm ok, just pinned" Pine stated "Renee get this assh*le back, he sliced my quads legs off" Vex responded "I'm outta ammo, shoulda brought a blade" Charade said "All right you" she raised her sniper rifle at the AC, "tell me your name so they know what to put on your tombstone" The AC before her turned, Renee let out a gasp. There was a 9Ball emblem on the shoulder of the AC.  
  
"Re..e! O. I .m so gl.d ..ur st..l ali.e! .o.ry . ha. T. t.ke t.es. .uys d.wn .ut the. Ju.t a.ta..ed me .n s.te" A mechanical voice echoed on the com link  
  
The 9Ball had sent a transmission, but Renee didn't care, a 9Ball had taken Defect away from, now she was gonna repay the favor. Tears building up on her eyes, she boosted toward the AC, firing off her rockets as she blind rushed the 9Ball. The 9Ball paused for a while and received the attack, it only stood on, watching Renee's moves. "Die you monster!" Renee's voice shaking as she aimed her next shot and fired, this time the 9Ball dogged and boosted away, going deeper into the city, Renee wasn't gonna let this one get away, she gave chase, trailing behind the 9Ball. The 9Ball weaved in between the buildings, ignoring Renee's relentless attacks, it was heading toward the Nest.at least what was left of it. "Stop running!" Renee raised her sniper rifle and fired a series of shots, the majority of them only making contact with the sky scrapers.  
  
"R..ee s.o. a.tack.ng .e" another transmission from the 9Ball  
  
"Shut up!" She was gonna silence this 9Ball by herself, she continued her assault, her hover AC easily catching up even though it was weaving in between the buildings, she let her blade do the talking. Her blade slashed into the side of the 9Ball, it ignored her, still on its path to the Nest. A grenade blast rocked the 9Ball, it was Zeppa's attack, his AC was waiting for the 9Ball to pass by before he fired. Renee waved her hand in thanks as her AC boosted past Zeppa and continued the chase, the 9Ball must have taken heavy damage, after 3 ACs and that grenade blast it must be ready to fall any minute. She was right after a few more rounds from her rifle the 9Ball began to smoke, and just in time, it had almost reached the Nest. "Fall back! I've got this 9Ball, anyone who fires at it will have to respond to me" she let out yell on the transmission, she would have the pleasure of destroying this 9Ball. All the Ravens stationed around the Nest lowered their weapon, they knew what Renee had gone thru because of the 9Balls, and they let her finish it off in respect. The 9Ball stopped. Renee was closing in, the 9Ball had paused in a field, just a head was the rubble that they where all protecting. She was ready to destroy the 9Ball, its back facing her she released her blade, the 9Ball was cut down, the arm that Renee had just sliced off laying before it. "Now you die you piece of scum" Renee whipped the tears from her eyes, her AC had just landed, ready to launch the grenade blast that would destroy the 9Ball, she squeezed the trigger.  
  
"Renee." a voice as clear as day stuck Renee's heart  
  
Renee fired off her cannon a split second after she heard the transmission. The 9Ball before her would have been a smoldering heap if she had not averted her cannon. Tears streaming down her face, she looked at the 9Ball. Renee let out a wail, she had almost destroyed the 9Ball.with Defect in it.  
  
Renee couldn't hold her emotions in, she had almost killed Defect, the one person she cared for was almost lost by her own hands. She had been crying for 2 days straight now the bed was soaked, Defect was in a coma because of her attack. She knew in her head that he was able to prevent war with the info he had, before the blast by her grenade launcher he had sent Claymore Faction a packet of data. Her actions ate away at her heart, she had almost destroyed the last hope mankind had to survive and almost killed her love along with it. Renee was still crying on Defect's bedside when Jean came in, Renee was oblivious to all that was happening around her, all she wanted was to be with Chris. "Renee, come on you need to eat something" Jean had a plate of food, she was becoming to get worried, Renee hadn't eaten or drank anything since Chris was brought in to the hospital. She was afraid that Renee was gonna dehydrate and handed her a glass of water. Renee continued crying, she didn't even know that Jean was in the room. "Renee snap out of it!" Jean grabbed Renee, "Renee look at me, if you die before Chris wakes up then what's the use of the tears your shedding now?" Renee's face was streaked with tears, she fell asleep with tears and woke up with them. "Renee, you need to eat and drink" Jean was afraid for Renee "Jean." Renee' voice was a whisper, she had lost her voice after crying out loud "Renee, you need your strength for Chris, you wouldn't want him to see you like this now would he?" Jean sat by Renee, whipping her face with a napkin. After Renee had finished the food, Jean said that Renee needed some rest, and left the two alone. Renee had giving it a thought, she pulled aside Chris's soggy covers and curled up next to him, she held his hand in hers and closed her eyes, they where finally together.  
  
My head was throbbing, I can't remember what happened, it was all fuzzy to me. I sat up in my bed, rubbing my temple, I was in a hospital it seems, it was then when I began to get flash backs. I remember fighting my way out of Klein's fortress, I had "borrowed" an AC and escaped. I had released the Ravens in the cells some stayed back to fight Klein the rest escaped, splitting up heading to different Nests. After killing the PLUS of my father I remember making a disk, on it was the plan that Klein had so masterfully planned out, to bad I came along and became the monkey wrench. I looked around my room, the right side of my bed was warm and indented.as if someone had slept with me. Another flash back, moving thru a desert, me and about 20 Ravens heading to Claymore Faction, as we reached the outskirts of the city we went our separate ways they had to distract the others, I had to deliver the goods. "Arg" I said, grabbing my head, it was as if someone was pounding hammers on my head, then I found out that the pounding was someone knocking on the door. "Coo-mmm innnn" I said, the words fumbled out of my mouth "Chris you awake?" instantly my mind went to a red head, oh hell I'm doomed "Jeeen?" my mouth was like rubber, what the hell did they give me? Jean walked in, she took one look at me and punched my shoulder. "AUUUW" my body felt like lead, that punch hurt this time "You idiot!" she yelled, hugging me "Whad I do now?" my voice was coming back "You scared Renee to death with that stunt you pulled!" Jean was still hugging me, I miss you to I said in my head "I tooold her to sttop" I remember running away from Renee's AC, "she was dead set at destroying me" "Yeah because you where in that 9Ball!" she punched me again, "You remember the 9Balls that attacked, she was heart broken when you disappeared" I rubbed my arm "Whhere is ssshe anyway?" my mind went to Renee, her touch, her voice, her silly glasses "She just left, she had to visit her brother" "Awww" my heart leap, I shoulda came too earlier  
  
Exactly 2 weeks after my Nest was destroyed, I was here sitting in a room surrounded by numb skulls who a majority happened to be bald men.not to mention the leaders of the Raven's Nests elsewhere. They where reviewing the info I had provided, going over every detail, reading every paragraph, twice I may add, then when they would finish a section they would review and spend an hour or so debating it's "authenticity" Not fun I could tell you. This was just a big waste of time, and if there's one thing I hate more then wasting time.it would be wasting life, and that's exactly what I'm doing right now. I saw their lips moving, all I heard was "blah blah blah" all I wanted was to get strapped into my AC and just fight already. I wanted to take action, I wanted to avenge, I wanted to.be with Renee.Renee.I haven't seen her around much ever since her brother disappeared, just a hi or bye in the hallway, its like we're complete strangers now. It was true though.she never knew the original Chris, only a lump of meat that looked like him, and the thought ate away at me. 


	13. Sticky Situation

Chapter 13: Sticky Situation  
  
"Ah hell, this sucks" I was looking around for some spare AC parts, the mission to raid Klein's fort was taking place in 2 days and I didn't even have a completed AC. "Shade and BB from Global Cortex" Jean was reading off the list of Ravens that where lucky enough to be able to pay back Klein "Helios, Aeries, Rose and Light Seeker from Nerves Concord" she licked her lips, "from Rapture Point we've got Odin, Morgue, Firefly, Tiara and Dusty, all high ranking Ravens" "And from Claymore." "Patterns, Coco Bird, you, Florescent Light and." Jean looked up at me "Yuri.Renee got picked" I said half heartily, out of over 100 Ravens she got picked as well "Chris, you still need an AC" she was waking down the dirt path, on both sides of me where make shift hangers with ACs housed within them, without the Garage provided by Claymore it was a hassle to change a part or two, much less make an AC. I passed by Coco Bird's hanger, his flaming red AC tank was all ready while I was still trying to get one. "Jean" I caught up with Jean, this mission had no reward, but that didn't stop nearly all the remaining Ravens from signing up. Each nest could only spare so many Ravens, the ones that Jean read off the list was the team responsible to enter the fort and clear out any baddies, the last group of Ravens consisted of elite AC pilots and would come in after our sweep. "Jean!" I said again, she ignored me and continued down the path, "ello? Are you listening to me?" "Hey Chris" she turned toward me, we had stopped infront of a closed hanger "What?" "Remember when I said I'd pay you back for saving my life one time?" "Uhh, yeah why do you ask?" "Because I'm repaying my debt and saving your ass" she called for some technicians to open the hanger "How?" "With this" she grabbed my head and turned it to the contents of the hanger I couldn't believe my eyes, "well?" I was looking at my old AC, the one that didn't have a name and was the only thing my dad left me. I Looked at Jean, speechless. "You know, I always called this a piece of sh*t, but now it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" I said, I had an AC to pilot, and now I get to join in the fun. "uhh, yeah, umm Chris?" "Yeah" I was still mesmerized with the AC before me, even if it was obsolete with chipping paint and a cr*ppy radiator, it was still my baby "You may have an AC but you don't have any weapons" I looked more closely.never mind I woke from my trance and said, "this is a piece of sh*t" "I could ask some Ravens if they could spare a part or two" I said, looking around into the other hangers "Yeah you could but I doubt it, your AC is too old to use some of the newer parts" "dam" "Yeah Chris, I know you have a stash of AC parts somewhere, why don't you use thems?" I scanned my mind and only came up with one hit, I had something in cold storage.but it only brought back bad memories that weren't mines to begin with "Chris I'll ask some people if you could use some of their old parts ok?" Jean had already begun walking down the path, "I'll be back in an hour or two" "Yeah." my mind went back to the warehouse that me and Jean went shopping for AC parts. I didn't tell her that I had a weapon stored there, she'll kill me if she found out that I was using credits to store a fossil of a weapon. But it seems that I had no choice, if I was gonna rock with the big boys in this fight, I was gonna have to whip it out, even if it did kill me once before.  
  
"Chris I got some parts for yo-" Jean was just entering my hanger when she saw the weapon I had installed on my AC "Don't say anything Jean" I was touching up on my emblem when I heard her walking in, "as soon as this is over that's going back into storage" "Chris but, but, but-" "You think I enjoy it on my AC?" my hand was covered with silver and yellow paint, even if the emblem was less then 5% of the total AC surface area it was like painting a mural "I thought it blew up with your." she stopped, then began looking at a modified Kawasawa , it's silver polish shined in the sheets of light from the blinds of the hanger. She looked at the long barrel and energy battery housing, my dad had modified it to fire in 2 kinds of weapon fire, 50 regular energy blasts or 5 shots of concentrated death. "I had it fixed" I was still thinking back to the explosion, where the real Defect died, it ripped at my mind knowing that I was a clone, "and put away" I looked at her, "what do you have?" "Your going to love it" she reached into her purse bringing out a crumpled piece of paper, "left arm part, the CLB-LS-1551 laser blade, right back unit, the ZW."  
  
"This is a joint effort, so try not to be a hero" The leader of our group was an old man, two scars running down both sides of his face creating an illusion of the number Eleven on his face by the looks of it he must be 70+. All around the room I saw skilled pilots, all grizzled vets who have seen more then their share of blood on the battle field and rankings sucure in the upper levels in the arena. Our leader had assembled us and was going over our part in the mission. The jet sank to the right and his coffee slid off the table crashing into the floor but was muted by the thunder outside, we where already on our way to Klein. "The first wave has cleared out the outside defenses, the second is already trying to breach into the fort" he turned on the hologram table and pointed out our entry point, "we clear out the northern sector while group 4 has the eastern and 5 with the depository" he looked up, "any questions?" no one said anything or make a gesture, everyone knew what to do. I looked at Renee again, she was off in a corner her orange hood covering her face so all emotion from her was hidden. I sighed deeply, what the hell happened to us I thought, leaning my chair backwards  
  
We landed about 1000km from the fort, we were waiting for our ACs to arrive via space drop. As we waited we looked at the carnage around us, ACs and MTs scattered about, one of the vets covered her eyes when she found the wreckage of her husbands AC. It had been assaulted with a barrage of machine-gun ammo and the core had a giant gapping hole in it, the product of a large rocket. We looked in awe into the distance, there was no noise, nothing moving besides pillars of smoke, a graveyard of pilots was before us, their metal caskets gleamed when a cloud or two allowed the sun to penetrate. The sight was horrifying, twisted metal blended in with red blood, not many where sure that the red ACs that lay before us where originally painted red, but stained. Smoke from fires here or there burned into the distance, the crow of a dying Raven echoed into the distance, our bones chilled. "Get ready" Count One said, his voice woke us up from our trance. We looked up, our ACs where on their way. 17 glowing balls of fire rained down from the sky, our ACs within the capsules that had been deployed from space, their red glow reminded me of the blood in the battle field, I looked away but there was red everywhere, my eyes fell upon Renee, the orange drowned away all other colors, I was at ease. Exactly 500 meters from the ground the capsules split apart releasing our ACs into free fall, the automatic boosters turned on slowing their decent, all landing within a mile from our position, time to suit up.  
Within 30 minutes of our arrival time we where all ready, it was time for us to venture out into the carnage. "Everyone move out, hovers take point" Count One adjusted his helmet, a giant number 11 was on it, each of the 1s over the right and left side of his visor, "lets go"  
  
Our approach was a slow one, with all this fuel around from the MTs that spewed from Klein's fort the overboost and boost was out of the question or else everything would be engulfed with flames. The hovers floated about to and fro; not bothered by the wreckage that lie below, they had already made contact with the first group of Ravens that where also going to help us in our sweep in the fort while the rest trudged along the swat of dead Ravens. My bipedal was making good time, being able to maneuver and light enough to walk upon other ACs, my route was a straight line. The reverse joints of our group found a creative way to get from point A to point B, their grasshopper like jump propelled them way ahead of me. Tanks on the other hand were slow enough, with all the debris and junk on the ground they were dead last since they had to find an opening to get past the wreckage. 2 hours late to our entry point the hovers of our group and the first team entered the fort, any and all transmission from them ceased. Klein's fort was more or less like a dome, it reminded me of the arena, I know that battles where being waged just as our group reached it. "Light seeker, fire a taco" Count one ordered, we had arrived at the target area an hour late. "Roger that" although his AC wasn't a quad or tank, he fired a grenade blast at the wall that would be our door in. We where all given the special OP-INTESIFY optional part, only the elite where allowed to receive this, and it clearly shows why. No longer needing to knell to fire cannons, increased radiator; booster; and energy recovery.simply put the whole 9 yards. "Tanks out in front" the just arriving tanks rolled thru the collapsed wall, switching to their Grenade cannons. The tanks where to take the brunt of any attack, hovers where to scout and the mids where the ones to "soften up" the baddies before the elite group came in. At least that was the plan, the hovers had already floated on in with the first group, including Renee. "Lets clear out" "Roger." there was a pause in the transmission, "1000 credits for whoever gets into a battle first" I heard the team chuckling in the static, "your on"  
  
"Nothing here" "Here too" "Where is everyone?" "I'm just entering the dome.oh hell" "What?" "I've just found everyone" "and?" "and." the sound of an AC overboosting was heard in the background, "their all dead, I'm going in" "NO Yuri report your posistion!" "No time" there was an explosion on the Com link, "tell Defect.I said bye" the battle raged in radio silence, the dome walls muted all cries of help  
  
"This area is all clear" I said into the link "Good, that brings the number to 10." Count One paused for a second, "I want you to check one last area before we let the Elite come in" "Shoot" I said "Search the dome area, that'll be 11." "Roger I'm on my way" I switched on my Overboost, and blasted down the corridor.  
I blinked once, twice, a million times, the image didn't change, I wasn't imagining this. When I opened the doorway to the dome, I didn't know it would also be the doorway to destruction. The doorway opened slowly, creaking as it rose up into the ceiling, an AC toppled over scaring the bageezes out of me. It had its back against the doorway, and fell to my feet as the door opened. I recognized him instantly, it was Chain Iron, his AC riddled with bullet holes that I knew the pilot didn't survive. Before me among the buildings within lay the remains of countless ACs, including the hovers of our groups. They had all been destroyed, the hair on the back of my neck rose, something was happening in here and I wanted to know what. Just as I entered a building near the other side of the dome collapsed, someone was still fighting. I switched on my overboost again, speeding toward the rubble.  
  
"Who are you?" Renee boosted behind a building, just avoiding a shotgun blast "I go by Kitty" She switched weapons, "but only those who are maunders may call me Caitlin" "How about b*tch?" Renee turned and fired her machine gun into the building, the bullets tore up the walls and continued thru, just missing Kitty on the other side. "Hmm, how entertaining" Kitty raised her weapon, "tell me how this feels" launching a capsule in Renee's direction "what the?" the building collapsed infront of her, Renee had just got a glimpse of the capsule before it erupted. Renee's left part of her AC was covered in goo, the capsule had spattered out a blue liquid that blocked out the orange. "Are you ready?" Kitty pressed her trigger and an explosion ensued, Renee's left arm exploded "HOW?!?!" Renee was stunned, somehow the goo Kitty launched exploded. She watched in horror as all the blue spatters that didn't land on her AC created mini explosions. "Magic" Kitty replied and began to launch capsules into the air. "What is that?" Renee was dogging the blue goo as they rained down from the sky, only a small portion of the goo landed on her but the damage it dealt was as much as a TITAN missile, if more then 25% of the goo covered her AC the it would be game over. "Its something I've created" The cat was chasing Renee around the buildings, "It seeps into your AC and blows it up from the inside out" "Your mad!" Renee saw that Kitty's AC was also covered in the blue goo, if she pulled the trigger then she would explode as well "I know" Kitty continued launching capsules and spoke into the link, "and soo the cat chased the orange bird up a tree" "B*TCH!" Renee was concentrated on dogging the goo, her weapons forgotten in the chase "The bird thought it would be safe to fly away" Kitty fired her left hand weapon, launching another capsule but this time the goo that erupted was red.anything covered in it sizzled and melted, it was an acid. Renee now had to dodge the red as well, both liquids created the color of death when combined, purple was not a favorite color of Renee. "But the cat jumped after the bird, catching it in mid flight" Kitty was launching capsules indiscriminately now her AC coated in purple but continued the chase "the cat fell to its doom.but not before having a last meal." Kitty's AC was sizzling and Renee watched as the metal frame of it melted off, reveling a skeleton. Renee tried to get away but she had nowhere to go, Kitty had trapped her in a dead end. "Meow" Kitty said and launched her last capsule at Renee covering her completely. "RENEE!" she heard on the com link before Kitty pressed the trigger, she looked behind Kitty and saw an AC with a Kawasawa.she knew who it was  
  
Time stopped, I found Renee, and I knew that in a matter of seconds I would lose her, time began to resume, and I tried to fight it back, I was forcing my mind to keep time still, I wanted at least one more second with her, just one more. 


	14. Till the End

Chapter 14: Till the end  
  
The dome rocked at the explosion, shaking the very foundation. The elite group of ravens had just arrived when the explosion occurred, all of them looking at each other in puzzled looks. Count One looked at his timer and scratched a line on the inside wall of his AC, exactly 111 ravens dead, at 1:11. "triple digits" he said.  
  
"Renee." I said in disillusionment, my mind was still stuck in PLUS and everything was still surreal. I strained my eyes to keep her AC in my sights but the red and yellow flames kept the orange hidden. Reeling back in my seat with my arm over my blinded eyes I clenched my fist and teeth, this cant be happening. Everything was still in slow motion, what felt like 30 seconds was in actuality 3, I wanted my time with Renee to last. The blue goo evaporated into flaming bubbles and searing heat, not doing any damage to my AC but everything else that it had seeped into evaporated along with it. Buildings either toppled by the explosions or were engulfed by them, along with everything within this dome, all affected in one way or another; all for worst. I didn't know if the tears falling down my check was from the flames that had blinded my eyes, or the thought of Renee within them.  
Time speed up and slowed down in my mind, one second there would be a slow growing rumbling the next, quick rapid boomings, and then silence. I hated the PLUS that was me, the ability to use time at will but useless to go back and change all this. As the rumblings outside my core softened and the image on my monitor began to come into view I knew it was all over, hell had just past me by. "Renee." I spoke out, choking back the tears, trying to keep my voice steady, "Renee..Renee." "Chr.s." "RENEE!" She was alive! ALIVE! Waking up from my trance like state I looked hard into my monitor, my eyes darted all over for any sign of orange. "HANG ON RENEE!" swiping my eyes with my sleeves, my AC shifted thru the destruction. Dropping my Kawasawa and blade, I needed to get Renee out of there. Joy began to seep into me as her AC came into view, it was no longer orange, the heat had melted the paint away, her AC was a mess, but she was alive and that was all I needed to continue. When her core was free of the rubble I exited my AC and ran toward it, every second counted. Feeling around for the trigger that would open her core and bring her cockpit out of its protective, I wenched in pain from the heat of the metal. The blast had heated the metal up and clearly it wasn't cool enough to lay a hand on it but I continued to search none the less. "Hold tight." I said to myself, imagining her safe and sound within the cell I was trying to get into. Switching hands I finally found the switch, my right hand cooked enough to take a bite out of it. A hiss from the hydraulics within the core and the steam geyser that erupted from the radiator drove me back, but not enough to keep me from her. The front half of the AC core opened up and more steam ensued. The cockpit slowly slid out of it's housing and opened its contents, the greatest prize of all. "Renee.your safe now" jumping into the disarrayed cockpit, holding her closly "ugh..chr.s." I heard, her eyes shut, the words jumbled out of her mouth, she had been cooked and sautéed alive in this oven, she was alive and that's all that mattered "shhh.its alright" eyes beginning to water, "I wont let you go" brushing my hands thru her hair I began to cry  
  
I didn't notice the shadow behind me, my sobs had covered the man's foot steps, he pulled his arm back and released the force upon me, I remember orange that slowly swirled to black.and endless black that engulfed Renee.then it was all gone  
  
"Are you up?" I heard, my head pounded and caused me to grab it in pain "wha-?" "good.good.now we could begin." "Who are you? Where am I?" I snapped out of my concussion, no doubt with help from my PLUS, everything suddenly came back into view, I was in a cockpit of an AC that much was certain, but when I looked into my monitor it was all dark, "hey bastage!" "Bastage? My my what a nice vocabulary you have, the last person to defeat me didn't even have a voice" the one talking sounded familiar, then it hit me "Klein." "the very one.or should I say technically the same one" He opened the vid link, what I saw was not an old man but a middle-aged one, and his voice wasn't sickly anymore "Another PLUS I see." I spat into my vid screen, he looked better with spit on his face "Surprised? My old husk died long before your 'Operation' began, I am the 5th of the noble original, the one you knew was the 4th" "How do you live knowing you're a fake?" I said, eyeing the spit face "I view my time spent here as a continuation, as you could see we all live separate lives, but we share the same common goal which ties us all" "and that would be?" "the original once aspired to be a great raven, when that was achieved long long ago, he wanted something more.what could be more then the destroyer of worlds?" He smiled, tilting his head to the right and left, cracking his neck bones, are you familiar with your AC setup?" I inspected my cockpit, it was a replica of my Adrenaline AC, all the bells and whistles. "what of it?" "I thought you would feel more comfortable to die in an familiar AC" he responded, his voice was now becoming colder, eager for something "So why not let me use the one I came in here with?" I was fully awake now, my mind wondering to Renee "Irrelevant, the one you are in now is a better design and would there fore produce a more.lasting fight" "Ahh, now I know why I'm in here" he saw my crooked smile despite the spit on the screen, "you wanna finish off what the one before you couldn't do" "correct" he turned off the vid link, "I hope you prove a worthy fight.the one that preceded you was an exceptional pilot, even defeating the 3rd who was using a disorder battle suit" he pushed a button, the arena then lit up from all the lights embedded around the perimeter, the roof shifted and groaned, revealing the sky. It was blood red, in my mind it was red from the Ravens who had fallen this day, soaking the sky with blood as they fell to the ground. The sight was astounding, the lights reached out to the red sky, mixing with it and illuminated my path to Klein, the blood soaked trail that lay before me was the sacrifice my comrades had pained, now it was time to collect. I saw a ghost of Renee walking that path, it may have been real or just from my imagination, I knew Renee was still alive.and I also knew that she was with me now in spirit, this one was for her.this one was to avenge the pain they had inflicted on her.I swallowed hard, sweat dripping down my temple, and focused on the AC that stood before me at the other end of the Arena. "lets go" I replied, I heard him respond  
  
"NOW DIE" 


	15. Thunder and Lighting

Chapter 15: Thunder and lightning  
  
"Lets go!" I yelled into my com link overboosting toward his AC  
It was a red and grey core. The red from the blood shed this day, grey the color of decay. The PLUS was equipped with weapons ready to spell my doom. A grenade launcher, chaingun, moonlight and rifle equipped, I knew what kind of AC this was. His AC broke all the rules of building. "Klein you chicken, PLOW user" spitting into the monitor again, maneuvering my AC to flank him, posed to fire my energy rounds into his core "I wonder if the real Defect would say that" he smiled, keeping his AC still until the last moment before I pressed the trigger, dogging the halo of rounds, "PLUS or no PLUS I shall enjoy destroying you none the less" He boosted upward, switching to his chaingun he aimed down and fired upon me. The rounds rained from the heavens, in order to beat him I was gonna need to use my abilities as well. Time slowed down, the bullets that fell slowed along with it, their tail rippling down in slow motion. The PLUS within me awakened, I knew where his AC was, I knew where he was going, I knew what he was going to do. Turn-boosting to my left I caught him in mid air, his blade ready to strike "You!?" his was surprised, he wasn't expecting me to catch him. Switching to my rockets I fired a round up close, hitting him dead on. Before I could get another off he overboosted away, he was using his abilities as well. "I see you have learned how to use the time distortion, as well as the tracker" "These skills actually have names?" time resumed again, what happened just now only took 5 seconds of the real world when it felt like 40, so this is why some Martian Raven's are banned from the arena, these.these.abilities.are just.too much. "This shall spice things up" "Whatever you say" I switched to my missiles, ready to fire when I get a lock. When it came I squeezed the trigger, watching on as it flew toward his AC, he dogged every single one of them, his grenade launcher lowered down from his back, I knew what was coming. Time warped again, the grenade launcher ready to fire. My AC let out a slow groan as it shifted directions, it was too late before I realized that his AC wasn't aiming in that direction. The grenade blast flew thru the air, time resumed and my AC was rocked by a tremendous hit, Klein knew I was gonna change directions and fired ahead of me, my AC practically boosted into the grenade blast. "I think not" Klein said, "I know how to harness my abilities as well." switching to his rifle, beginning to charge me with his OB, "LETS SEE YOU COUNTER THIS!" "Bring it" rising my machine gun, ready for his onslaught, whatever he was planning I was ready for it. His AC continued on its charge, when he was in range my machine gun rounds provided hurdles for him to dodge. His OB stopped but he's AC continued on forward, he began his attack. He fired at my core, I started my time warp again but it wouldn't help me this time, the rifle rounds hit my AC's rocket storage dead center, the rockets within blew up instantly. Before I had time to react his AC switched weapons and fired another grenade blast at me, my core shaking violently, his assault wasn't over yet, in a graceful swoop of his AC it began to flank me, switching to it's chaingun firing at me as it shifted closer, into my blind spot. "WHAT?!?" my time warp kicked in too late, everything slowed down just as his AC disappeared to the right of my cockpit view, the light from his head piece blurred making a red path before it was gone. Klein's AC was in range, with a swipe of his left arm a plasma beam flew from the blade and stuck my AC from behind rupturing my missile pack, his combo rendered my rocket's and missiles useless. Holy sh*t. "I expected.more from you, I must have overestimated you're skill as a pilot" an air of superiority in his voice, he was mocking me "Cool move" turning my AC to face him, he had stopped in his tracks, he was allowing me to live a little longer it seems, "I wonder what else I could do" I focused my mind again, this time I wanted to see if PLUS had more use then just the time warp. A bead of sweat began to roll down my cheek, I heard Klein maneuvering around my AC, as the sweat dripped off my chin something connected. In the back of my mind I heard a voice.it was my dad's.  
  
"will it and it will be done" his voice resounded within my cockpit, I didn't know if the voice originated from my mind or from my heart.  
  
The sweat stood frozen in place. It had frozen midair when I came out of my zoned out state. I looked up and saw Klein's AC, I saw a trail of where it had been and most startling, I saw a path of what it would do. I watched as a path unfolded before me, the actual AC stood in place, a bright outline around it. I knew what to do, I said a prayer of thanks to my dad, clone or not I didn't care anymore, he was my dad and nothing could change that, even if I wasn't the original son. I relaxing my mind, hearing a water droplet in the background I began to will.  
  
He was planning to attack my AC from the rear again, this time he was set on dismantling both my blade and energy machine-gun with the same attack he used to destroy both my back weapons. I was ready, as soon as his chaingun raised to the firing position I set my plan into action. Boosting forward toward his AC just as the rounds fired out of the barrel, I activated my blade. I did not intend to use it to slash his AC as he thought so, I held my blade out as long as possible using it as a shield against the bullets. The rounds disappeared within the plasma, the whizzing of the bullets died into a sizzling fry. Klein wasn't expecting this, he used his path reader, what Defect did was not what was suppose to happen. His thoughts muddled in his mind this was not foreseen, this would prove to be a glorious fight indeed. Smiling he charged toward Defect, intent of showing him the true skill of a Raven. Triggering my overboost I charged toward his AC, only left with my blade and EMG, now would be a good time to even the odds. My AC flew over his, energy rounds whizzed from the tip of my machine gun, a streak of bullet holes lined the ground, the energy beams leading up his core and shattering his head part, shards of glass fell to the ground as the light from his head piece died to a dim glow. Wheeling around my AC with the help of the turn boosters, I drew my blade once more, this time using its original use. Klein's AC faced mine, with a sweeping motion of his left arm a blade wave sliced the air forming a neon blue arch. The wave was too wide to dodge and it was too late to try to get above it, I figured it was time to see if the BITE was indeed stronger then the MOONLIGHT. In a vertical slicing motion the death wave dissipated, allowing my AC to continue toward Klein. He was ready to meet my blade with his, we both stuck at the same time and at the same place, each others blade. A flash of blue and orange collided, jarring both our ACs away in opposite directions. The blade wave that resulted from our attacks created a clash of blue and orange, before it had time to dissipate our next set of moves where already planned and executed. His blade rendered useless, raising his chaingun once more and fired, I meet his attack with my own, we were both using PLUS to it's potential, his chaingun rounds and my energy machine gun blasts both meet each other full on, nearly all of the rounds fired by the both of us was blocked by the other, it was a stalemate. I was running out of ammo, only 238 rounds left, just as he spent his. My AC stopped, his froze also, dropping the dead weight, our machines waiting for its pilots to decide its next plan of action. "I'm glad that I have finally found a worthy opponent, its so hard these days to find a Raven who is able to." Klein paused, I suppose he stopped to smile, "last this long" "Yeah.well" my mind was a blank, I didn't have anything to say, both of us knew that in the next engagement there would be a victor. "Let us end this" he spoke as both of our ACs charged. The red sky had disappeared behind dark clouds, the light beams from the arena became sharper, and specks of raindrops littered my screen. The sky opened up and released a turret of rain just as me and Klein met each other, a lightning bold streaked among the clouds, this battle will end before the thunder would come.  
His grenade launcher unfolded on his AC's shoulder, ready to blast me out of my path. Dodging the grenade round as it sped by, I began to fire rounds into core, getting ready to use my blade. He raised his rifle and fired upon me also, trying to race me in damage. Our ACs falling apart as we closed in, pieces of debris slowly falling to the ground like rain drops. Hearing the bullets whizzing by in slow motion, it was hard to tell if I was hitting his AC at all, the rain mixed obscured my vision but I was still able to see him. Too late I didn't notice that he was charging his overboost as I tried to get closer. He speed toward me, another lightning bold flashed just as his AC flew by mines. Too late I didn't notice he was lowing his grenade nozzle. Klein's AC stopped and quickly turned around, aiming his grenade blast at point blank range. Too late I didn't notice I was out of ammo and out of time. I only noticed the thunder outside and then I was bathed in light.  
  
Whoooooooooooosh  
  
"CHRIS!"  
  
Another Kawasawa blast from behind, the blue light from the blast enveloped me one more, Klein's AC had taken 2 direct shots from the Kawasawa Renee wielded. She was inside my AC, the one with no name, and had fired upon Klein as he was busy with me. "WHAT?!?" Klein was enraged, his AC was down 4000 AP points, he couldn't stand one more. The blast didn't stop his though.  
My AC was knocked from its feet, my cockpit shook, the metal behind me bulged forward, making me bend toward the controls, the seat belt cut into my shoulders a it tightened from the sudden impact. In the rain my AC landed head first, the momentum from the grenade blast carried the rest of the AC over and around, the OB rendered useless, my AP levels down in the red, I was snapped back into seat, face up, watching the rain fall down on me. 


	16. Lovebirds

Chapter 16: Love Birds  
  
Klein retreated into the rain, he hid in the rain, this battle was going his way until this b*tch came along, he would have to conclude this battle later, nothing was going to stop him from Defects destruction, that much was certain, it would just be delayed for the time being, he would have to deal with this one first.  
  
"RENEE!" I screamed into my com link, "GET OUT OF HERE" still groggy from the crash I tried to see if my AC was still able to move. It was but was everything else about it was non functional. My EMG was damaged in the fall, it didn't matter I was out of ammo any ways. Dropping it I was now defenseless, only equipped with a blade. I couldn't sense Klein in the rain, Renee shouldn't be here. "Renee go!" "I wont leave you Chris" she boosted toward me, lugging the Kawasawa behind her "You have too" the warning siren inside my core was still blaring "No, you left me once" I could hear her voice cracking on the link, "I wont let you leave me again" "Klein is somewhere out there! I don't want to lose you" my eyes becoming misty "Well I don't want to lose you either." I heard her sniffles despite the warning siren, that meant that she was able to hear mines. In my AC I scanned the arena, I could die happy battling Klein alone, I couldn't stand having Renee being there to watch me fall. "Then we need to get out of here" I said, trying to gain my composure, there was a lightning bolt  
  
too late, I had finally tracked Klein, he was behind me  
  
"DIE!!!!!!" Klein's AC merged out of the rain and shadows his grenade launcher aimed directly at Renee's core, the blast came with the thunder, Renee's AC was blasted backwards into my view. I watched as it flew ahead of me, landing on its side twisting and turning, landing into a contorted heap. The Kawasawa was released from her grasp, landing in front of her, the silver polish still gleamed when a lightning bolt flashed overhead. "RENEE!" I boosted toward her, knocking the Kawasawa on the ground away from my path. Tears streaming down my eyes, I vowed that Klein would pay dearly. I turned around to find Klein standing before me, wielding my fathers Kawasawa. My eyes narrowed and my heart began to freeze, Klein had taken the 2 things I held the most sacred. "Go ahead" Klein spoke, "tell me you're last request"  
  
The Kawasawa gleamed once more before it turned into a dull gray, I heard Renee's voice in my headset, bearly a whimper, I heard it clearly, the sirens no longer triggered a noise in my head, all I heard was Renee, I heard it in my heart. "I love you"  
  
"EAT SHIT KLEIN" drawing my blade I charged at him, he met my blade with a blast, the light pulsed out of the Kawasawa, the beam streaked toward me, the blue death would end my life just as it did once before. "I love you Renee." were my last words  
  
The blue ray of light pieced through Defect's AC dead center, it continued on thru him, striking the AC on the ground as well, the blue blast that ensued engulfed the heap, leaving a smoldering husk. Klein's AC was also bathed in light, as soon as the round was fired, the Kawasawa shook violently, overloading and continued to let out a constant blue stream. The AC's energy bar was depleting lower and lower, the tension it put on the generator overheated and exploded. Klein's AC erupted from the seams, exploding from the core on out. The Kawasawa continued to fire, even as the arm holding though was severed from its core, into the air. The light radiated from the Arena, firing into the clouds. The Ravens that witnessed the light show could have sworn that it was the hand of god that parted the clouds, ending the storm.  
  
The Mars Earth rebellion ended after the raid on Klein's fort, his body was found decomposing, proving that Klein was indeed dead. After a careful investigation of the site, one particular area caught the attention of the investigation team. The dome arena located within the fort.  
  
The 3 ACs that were found within the arena were scattered into different directions. All 3 had been subject to an explosion from an unknown weapon, only a few silver pieces remained from it. One AC had its arm blown off, it's frame was blasted into different areas from an explosion caused by the generator. Another AC was found 700 feet away, all that remained was the basic framework of it and parts of the core, what remained were all wielded together caused by an energy blast. The last AC was found in-between the two. A gaping hole in the center of the core, where the cockpit would have been. No remains of any of the pilots were found, the complete destruction of the ACs prevented anyone from identifying the pilots of the ACs.  
  
All that was found at the site was a cross fashioned out of the silver remains of the unknown weapon, providing some information that there was indeed a survivor. Jean finished her report, she closed her laptop and returned to the coffee on the table, looking back on a photo she had on the desk she whipped her tears, she never had the chance to say goodbye to her friend, her ally, her hero. Smiling from recalling all of the good times she stood up and walked out of her office, the lights turning off as the door closed, she walked out of the raven's nest known as Claymore Faction, and drove away into the cold night.  
  
A lone pilot watched her leave, the only one knowing that the war between Earth and Mars has just begun.shrugging in the cold, it would be the first day of many that would be spent alone. Time was running out for the pilot, who wanted nothing more then to be with the lost other, recalling a saying, "when one lovebird dies, the other soon dies of starvation, wanting to join its mate once more" and this saying was never so true. 


End file.
